The  Art  of 

Shoeing  Horses 


5$ 
Win.  J.  IHoore 


;rns 


y    /££ 


FKOM  THE  OFFICE  OF 

JOHN   B.  STONE, 

General  Agent, 

Pittsfield.  Mass. 


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Webster  Famiiy  Library  of  Veterinary  Medicine 
Cummings  School  of  Veterinary  Medicine  at 
Tufts  University 
200  Westboro  Road 
North  Grafton,  MA  01536 


BALANCING 
and  SHOEING 

Trotting  and  Pacing  Horses 


By 
WM.  J.  MOORE 

Allen  Farm,  Pittsfield,  Mass. 

NEW    ENGLAND'S   GREATEST    NURSERY 
OF   SPEED 


Cleveland,  Ohio 

Press  of  The  Judson  Printing  Company 

1916 


Copyright  1916,  by  Wm.  J.  Moore 


A    TREATISE 

ON- 

THE  ART  OF  SHOEING  HORSES 


INTRODUCTION. 

This  is  a  plain,  unvarnished  and  practical  treatise  on 
the  art  of  balancing  and  shoeing  trotting  and  pacing  horses, 
unclouded  by  little  known  technical  and  scientific  words 
and  phrases,  but  written  by  the  author,  Wm.  J.  Moore:,  in 
his  own  every  day  words  that  can  be  easily  understood  by 
any  horseman. 

Mr.  Moore,  who  has  spent  his  life  in  the  business  of 
horse  shoeing,  was  born  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  in  1865, 
and  later  had  charge  of  the  Horse  Shoeing  Department 
of  the  Allen  Farm  at  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  for  a  period 
of  over  twenty  years,  and  he  is  still  so  engaged  at  Allen 
Farm. 

Mr.  Moore's  experience  as  a  horse  shoer  dates  from 
the  time  when  he  commenced  work  in  a  horse  shoeing  shop 
as  an  apprentice,  at  the  age  of  16  years.  Since  which  time 
horse  shoeing  has  been  his  sole  occupation. 

During  this  period  of  35  years  Mr.  Moore  has  shod 
many  noted  trotting  and  pacing  horses,  and  his  long,  varied 
and  successful  experience  justifies  the  belief  that  no  one  is 
better  qualified  to  write  on  this  subject,  and  to  offer  advice 


in  regard  to  it,  than  is  he,  and  it  is  also  the  belief  of  those 
best  qualified  to  judge,  that  no  work  of  this  sort,  heretofore 
written,  is  more  entitled  to  the  confidence  of,  and  accept- 
ance by,  the  people  who  own  trotting  and  pacing  horses,  for 
whatever  purpose  they  may  be  used. 

With  this  short  preamble  in  the  way  of  an  introduction, 
we  will  let  Air.  Moore  tell  his  readers  in  his  own  words  and 
in  his  own  way  how  to  shoe  a  trotter  or  a  pacer,  so  that  it 
may  do  its  best  work  in  the  easiest  way,  and  for  the  greatest 
benefit  to  its  owner. 

W.  R.  Allen, 

Pittsfield,   Massachusetts. 

June,  1916. 


INDEX 


Page 

I.  Foals 1 

II.  Preparing  the  Foot 3 

III.  A  Trotter  Inclined  to  Single-foot  and  Pace  ...        6 

IV.  Causes  of  Rough  Gait 7 

V.  Shin-hitting  in  Front  .    • 8 

VI.  To  Prevent  Winging-in 8 

VII.  Shin-hitting  Behind 9 

VIII.  Knee  and  Arm  Hitting 10 

IX.  Shoeing  a  Knee-knocker 12 

X.  A  Bad  Hitter 13 

XI.  A  Hitting  Pacer 14 

XII.  Elbow  Hitting 15 

XIII.  An  Unusual  Case 17 

XIV.  Paddling 17 

XV.  To  Prevent  Paddling 19 

XVI.  Hitching,  Hopping  and  Running  Behind.  ...  19 

XVII.  Forging 21 

XVIII.  Scalping 23 

XIX.  Remedy  for  Scalping 23 

XX.  Sideweights 25 

XXI.  Wheel  Swinging 26 

XXII.  Knuckling  Over 27 

XXIII.  Stumbling 27 

XXIV.  Speedy  Cutting 28 

XXV.  A  Bad   One 30 

XXVI.  Gaiting  Colts 31 

XXVII.  Neglected  Hind  Feet 35 

XXVIII.  Knee  Action 37 

XXIX.  Slow  Get-away,  Fast  Finish 37 

XXX.  To  Convert  a  Pacer 39 


INDEX— Continued 

Page 

XXXI.  Converting  a  Trotter 40 

XXXII.  Contracted  Heels 41 

XXXIII.  Cause  of  Contracted  Heels 43 

XXXIV.  Corns 43 

XXXV.  Toe  Crack 44 

XXXVI.  Quartercrack 44 

XXXVII.  Dished  Toe 46 

XXXVIII.  Concussion 46 

XXXIX.  Founder 48 

Xly.  Cross-firing  Pacers 49 

XIvI.  Important  Note 50 

XLJI.  Level  Feet 52 

XIvIII.  Pulling  on  One  Ivine 54 

XLJV.  A  Judge  of  Gait 55 

XIvV.  Bar  Shoes 55 

XIvVI.  Slipping    .    .    . 57 

XI,  VII.  Sideweight  Shoes 58 

XIvVIII.  Toeweight  Shoes 59 

XIvIX.  Pocket  Weights 60 

h.  Interfering 60 

Conclusion 63 


THE  ART  OF  SHOEING  HORSES. 


There  is  something  in  the  foot  of  the  horse  that  has 
been  a  mystery  to  many  who  have  been  unable  to  find  out 
the  secrets  by  reading  some  of  the  books  that  have  been 
printed  on  the  different  subjects,  and  experimenting  on  the 
same,  pertaining  to  a  perfect  balance  of  the  trotter  and 
pacer  when  in  action. 

I  have  shod  all  kinds  of  horses  and  have  come  in  con- 
tact with  all  kinds  of  feet,  and  with  the  results  gotten  by 
practical  experiments,  I  will  try  to  enlighten  my  readers 
and  the  lovers  of  the  light-harness  horse. 

I.     FOALS. 

The  feet  of  the  suckling  foal  should  be  properly  fixed 
every  four  or  five  weeks.  After  the  foal  is  eight  or  nine 
weeks  old  his  feet  need  fixing  regularly.  To  fix  the  feet 
on  the  young  foal  shorten  the  toes  as  much  as  the  foot  will 
stand  without  making  the  foot  tender,  and  then  rasp  the 
quarters  down  to  a  level  with  the  frog,  or  a  little  lower  than 
the  top  of  the  frog  will  be  better,  then  round  the  sharp 
edges  of  foot  off  so  as  the  foal  will  not  cut  his  legs  with 
the  sharp  edges  and  the  job  is  completed.  Do  not  cut  out 
the  bars,  or  the  sole,  or  the  frog.  Now  if  you  have  noticed 
that  a  foal  stands  toeing  out,  leave  the  inside  of  the  toe  of 
that  foot  a  little  the  longest  from  the  coronet,  an  eighth  or 
three-sixteenths  of  an  inch  will  be  a  benefit  to  the  foot,  also 
to  the  line  of  action  later  on,  and  if  the  foal  toes  in,  leave 
the  outside  of  the  toe  the  longest,  as  it  will  help  to  straighten 
matters  in  the  line  of  action. 

In  fixing  the  foal's  feet  it  is  very  good  to  rasp  the 
quarters  and  heels  low  enough  so  as  to  give  a  slight  frog 


pressure  when  the  foot  comes  in  contact  with  the  ground. 
Frog  pressure  assists  expansion  and  prevents  contraction; 
a  short  natural  foot  with  a  slight  frog  pressure  during  the 
first  and  second  year  is  one  of  the  surest  ways  to  prevent 
a  bad  gait  or  a  ruptured  tendon,  in  later  years.  Young  foals 
should  have  their  feet  picked  out  two  or  three  times  a  week 
to  ventilate  around  the  frog,  because  the  filth  that  usually 
gets  lodged  around  there  will  be  almost  sure  to  cause  heat, 
and  in  consequence  a  diseased  frog,  which  perishes  away 
and  allows  the  heels  to  contract.  A  contracted  foot  is  a 
very  bad  thing  and  causes  trouble  in  more  ways  than  one. 
If  the  feet  on  foals  are  left  to  grow  too  long,  the  inside 
heels  will  cave  in  or  become  contracted  from  the  position 
they  rest  on  them  while  grazing.  To  prevent  this  keep  them 
cut  down,  if  not  you  will  have  to  use  hoof  expanders  to 
get  the  foot  back  to  its  natural  position. 

One  of  the  most  important  factors  in  keeping  the  feet 
on  sucklings,  weanlings  and  yearlings  in  proper  condition 
as  is  specified  in  this  article  is  to  see  that  you  are  keeping 
the  leg  in  the  middle  of  the  foot,  otherwise  many  a  good 
horse  suffers,  as  the  concussion  and  strain  is  not  equally 
distributed  on  both  sides  of  the  foot  when  in  action.  If  the 
feet  on  sucklings,  weanlings,  yearlings  and  two-year-olds 
are  kept  properly  fixed,  quarters  and  heels  kept  low  enough 
so  as  to  receive  a  slight  frog  pressure,  this  means  at  the 
proper  angle,  you  will  not  have  any  elbow  hitters  and  very 
few  knee  knockers.  If  you  have  a  yearling  that  hits  his 
knees  you  have  not  kept  his  legs  in  the  middle  of  his  feet 
by  keeping  his  heels  and  quarters  rasped  down,  which  will 
make  it  easier  to  prevent  winging  into  his  knees  than  if  he 
had  a  contracted  inside  quarter,  which  is  the  case  when 
neglected. 


II.  PREPARING  THE  FOOT  FOR  THE  SHOE. 

To  fix  feet  is  the  most  important  part  of  shoeing  the 
horse.  In  fixing  the  foot,  the  first  thing  to  take  into  con- 
sideration is,  what  sort  of  work  are  you  fixing  the  foot  for, 
is  it  for  a  draft  horse,  a  road  horse,  or  a  trotter  or  a  pacer? 
Does  the  horse  wing,  paddle,  speedy-cut  or  cross-fire,  does 
he  hit  his  ankles,  shins,  knees,  arms,  hocks,  or  elbows?  Is 
his  action  too  high  or  too  low?  Is  he  too  long  or  too  short 
gaited?     Is  he  striding  longer  with  one  leg  than  another? 

If  you  go  to  work  and  cut  the  feet  down  without 
taking  some  of  these  faulty  things  into  consideration  you 
are  liable  to  get  his  feet  just  to  the  reverse  way  to  what 
they  should  be,  and  place  him  in  an  uncomfortable  position 
instead  of  a  comfortable  one.  In  preparing  the  bottom  of 
a  horse's  foot  you  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  foot  can  be 
fixed  to  straighten  out  different  kinds  of  faulty  action,  and 
if  you  have  not  learned  it  by  a  close  study  of  experimenting 
or  by  being  taught  by  some  one  that  knew  all  the  different 
ways  of  balancing  a  foot  on  the  leg  to  correct  faulty  action, 
then  to  learn  this  you  will  have  to  have  it  explained  to  you 
and  you  should  see  the  job  executed,  see  it  done,  and  then 
go  and  see  the  results  obtained,  while  the  horse  is  in  action. 
Then  you  will  know  that  something  is  accomplished  by 
scientifically  fixing  the  feet  to  correct  faulty  action;  you 
have  to  show  people  nowadays. 

Why  I  say  that  fixing  the  feet  is  the  most  important 
part  of  shoeing,  and  the  most  difficult  to  get  done,  is  be- 
cause the  farriers  that  can  level  and  balance  feet  of  rough 
gaited  trotters  and  pacers  to  assist  nature  in  correcting 
faulty  action  are  very  scarce,  some  of  them  cannot  think 
long  enough  while  cutting  with  the  rasp  and  knife,  and  the 
first  thing  you  know  they  have  cut  one  side  of  the  foot 
too  low  and  are  not  able  to  cut  the  opposite  side  on  a  level 
to  the  side  that  was  cut  wrong. 

-3- 


Now  to  fix  the  feet  of  a  horse  whether  front  or  hind, 
begin  with  the  foot  first  that  looks  to  be  the  highest  at  the 
heels,  because  if  you  should  start  to  fix  two  feet  and  one 
foot  is  a  good  deal  lower  at  the  heels  than  the  other  you 
cannot  cut  the  heels  of  the  foot  that  are  the  highest  low 
enough  to  place  the  foot  at  the  same  angle  with  its  mate, 
if  you  had  fixed  the  foot  that  had  the  lowest  heels  first. 
\  A  good  rule  in  fixing  feet,  and  you  will  find  it  true 
nine  times  out  of  ten,  is,  when  fixing  front  feet,  always 
cut  the  outside  from  toe  to  heel  down  first,  unless  you  are 
shoeing  a  paddler,  then  cut  the  inside  of  the  foot  down  to 
a  level  to  correspond  with  the  outside  that  was  fixed  first. 
The  reason  for  fixing  feet  in  this  manner,  is,  if  you  should 
cut  the  inside  down  first  chances  are  you  would  not  be 
able  to  cut  the  outside  to  a  level  with  the  inside,  for  you 
will  cut  to  the  sensitive  part,  on  the  outside  of  a  front  foot, 
quicker  than  the  inside,  and  it  is  just  to  the  reverse  with 
hind  feet.  The  front  feet  should  not  be  left  high  on  the 
outside,  unless  the  horse  is  a  paddling  gaited  one,  for  it 
creates  friction,  or  a  strain  on  landing  and  leaving  the 
ground,  it  also  helps  to  create  faulty  action.  Nearly  all 
the  hard  shin,  knee  and  arm  hitters  I  have  come  in  contact 
with,  their  front  feet  were  highest  on  the  outside,  low  on 
inside,  or  a  contracted  inside  quarter,  and  sometimes  a 
very  badly  contracted  inside  quarter  at  that.  To  fix  front 
feet  of  trotters  and  pacers  for  different  purposes  or  ways 
of  going  you  can  refer  to  the  index  on  the  different  sub- 
jects in  this  book. 

There  is  very  little  attention  paid  to  the  hind  feet. 
They  try  to  get  them  the  same  length  and  angle,  but  there 
are  very  few  hind  feet  properly  fixed  to  control  a  per- 
fect line  of  action,  to  lengthen  or  shorten  the  stride,  to 
close  or  widen  the  action  or  to  elevate  or  lower  the  action. 
There  are  very  few  floormen  that  can  level  and  balance  a 
hind   foot.     In  preparing  it   for  a   shoe   to  correct   faulty 


action,  the  majority  of  them  do  not  know  how  to  hold  the 
leg  to  look  at  the  bottom  of  the  foot  to  tell  which  side  is 
highest.  They  should  keep  in  mind  while  fixing  the  foot, 
the  results  they  are  trying  to  get;  if  they  do  not,  they  are 
liable  to  get  the  foot  too  low  on  one  side  or  the  other. 
A  hind  foot  that  is  left  the  highest  on  the  inside  is  a  dan- 
gerous weapon  to  a  trotter  or  pacer;  it  will  cause  injury  to 
ankle  ligaments  and  to  bones  of  the  foot.  In  the  majority 
of  cases  the  angle  of  a  hind  foot  should  be  several  degrees 
shorter  than  the  angle  of  the  front  feet.  A  hind  foot  that 
is  left  the  highest  on  the  inside  on  a  trotter  or  pacer  will 
have  a  tendency  to  close  up  the  line  of  action  of  the  hind 
leg  and  create  crossfiring  and  shin,  hock,  ankle  and  pas- 
tern hitting.  As  the  coffin  or  pedal  bone  of  a  horse's  foot 
is  symmetrical  in  shape,  it  is  not  proper  to  have  wings  of 
abnormal  growth  more  on  one  side  of  the  foot  than  on  the 
other,  for  this  constitutes  an  unbalanced  foot.  If  it 
measures  more  on  one  side  of  the  foot  than  on  the  other, 
from  the  center  of  the  frog,  make  both  sides  alike,  to 
balance  up  matters  and  to  conform  with  the  shape  of  the 
coffin  bone  inside;  if  the  toe  of  one  foot  is  longer  than 
that  of  the  other  it  creates  a  longer  leverage  to  leave  the 
ground  from,  therefore  the  stride  of  that  leg  would  natu- 
rally be  a  little  longer,  everything  else  being  equal.  If  the 
heels  of  one  foot  are  left  higher  than  those  of  its  mate, 
the  stride  would  be  a  little  shorter  and  the  jar  or  concus- 
sion greater.  A  good  rule  in  fixing  hind  feet  is,  always 
cut  or  rasp  the  inside  of  foot  down  first,  because  you  can 
always  get  the  outside  of  a  hind  foot  cut  down  to  the  level 
of  the  inside.  A  foot  should  be  fixed  so  that  the  leg  will 
be  kept  in  the  middle  of  the  foot.  If  the  foot  has  a  con- 
tracted quarter,  one  side  or  the  other,  you  cannot  do  it 
until  the  contracted  quarter  is  expanded,  which  is  easily 
done  (see  article  on  contracted  feet).  It  is  difficult  to  fix 
feet  to  suit  the  leg,  and  line  of  action,  and  also  some  people's 

-5- 


eye,  all  at  the  same  time.  The  frog  of  the  horse's  foot 
should  never  be  cut,  if  it  is  in  a  healthy  state.  A  diseased 
frog  that  has  loose  fragments  hanging  to  it  may  be  trimmed 
off  so  as  not  to  be  holding  filth.  Never  cut  the  heels  open 
with  a  knife  or  rasp  to  make  the  foot  look  wider  across  the 
heels,  a  practice  that  has  long  existed  with  some  people.  It 
is  unnatural,  it  helps  to  contract  the  heels,  and  shortens  the 
bearing  surface  from  toe  to  heel.  Any  one  that  does  this 
is  dangerous.  Trimming  out  the  frog,  opening  the  heels 
with  the  knife,  cutting  out  the  bars,  and  too  much  of  the 
sole,  will  give  you  a  hoofbound  and  contracted  sore-footed 
horse,  it  will  help  to  shorten  up  his  gait  and  sometimes 
make  him  rough  gaited.  Feet  of  this  kind  cannot  stand 
the  jar  or  concussion  that  feet  can  that  have  been  properly 
treated. 

III.    A  TROTTER  INCLINED  TO   SINGLEFOOT 
AND  PACE. 

The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  change  the  angle  of  his 
front  feet  to  a  longer  one  by  rasping  the  quarters  and  heels 
down  several  degrees,  do  not  take  anything  off  the  toes. 
The  hind  feet  should  be  in  length  and  angle  nearly  the 
same  as  the  front  feet,  perhaps  an  eighth  of  an  inch  shorter 
at  the  toe,  and  within  3  degrees  of  the  same  angle.  The 
second  thing  is  to  add  about  3  or  4  ounces  more  weight  to 
the  front  shoes,  and  a  little  more  if  needed,  after  you  have 
tried  the  former.  If  the  horse  carries  a  toe  weight  put 
it  on  also.  The  third  thing  to  do  is  to  put  calks  on  the 
hind  shoes,  toe  and  heel,  using  as  light  a  shoe  as  possible. 
The  fourth  thing  to  do  is  to  allow  the  animal  to  go  as 
low  headed  as  possible,  this  is  very  important.  The  changes 
in  the  footing  of  different  tracks  will  sometimes  cause  a 
horse  to  become  all  unbalanced.  Slipping  is  very  bad  for  a 
horse  when  at  speed ;  it  unbalances  the  action  and  creates 
muscle  soreness,  and  the  poor  animal  is  made  to  suffer  tor- 

-6- 


ture  by  some  of  the  drivers  or  trainers,  because  the  animal 
does  not  perform  as  well  on  a  track  that  don't  suit  the  shoe- 
ing as  he  did  on  a  previous  occasion  that  did  suit,  the  same 
way  shod.  I  must  say  in  reference  to  trotters  that  are 
inclined  to  single  foot  and  pace  that  in  fixing  the  hind  feet 
I  would  prefer  to  get  the  angle  of  the  hind  feet  as  near  to 
the  angle  of  the  front  feet  as  possible,  because  it  helps  to 
confine  them  to  the  pure  trot.  The  shorter  the  toe  and 
angle  of  the  hind  feet  as  compared  with  the  front,  the 
quicker  they  will  go  into  a  singlefoot  and  pace.  The  causes 
of  the  roughness  in  the  gait  of  the  trotter  are  that  the  feet 
are  at  too  short  an  angle,  not  carrying  weight  enough  in 
front,  and  checked  too  high,  or  slipping  too  much. 

IV.  CAUSES  FOR  BECOMING  ROUGH  GAITED. 
The  front  feet  or  the  hind  feet  are  not  mates,  or 
high  heels  on  one  foot  and  low  heels  on  the  opposite;  they 
are  cut  too  low  on  one  side  to  hang  level  compared  with 
the  opposite  side  of  the  same  foot,  a  long  toe  on  one 
foot  and  a  short  toe  on  the  opposite  foot;  these  variations 
create  a  different  angle,  when  it  should  be  the  same;  that 
is,  the  front  feet  should  be  mates  and  the  hind  feet  should 
be  mates.  Cutting  out  the  frog,  bars  and  sole,  and  open- 
ing the  heels  with  the  knife  will  also  lead  to  a  rough  gait 
when  the  foot  is  dry  and  hard,  and  the  horse  strikes  a 
hard  track  at  speed.  Carrying  head  too  high,  too  low, 
or  to  one  side,  or  pulling  on  bit  too  strong  will  do  the 
same  thing. 

After  fixing  the  front  feet  as  directed,  do  not  leave 
the  heels  on  the  hind  feet  high  or  the  toes  of  the  hind 
feet  too  short,  fix  the  hind  feet  by  leaving  the  toes  long 
enough  and  the  heels  low  enough  to  create  an  angle  to 
within  a  few  degrees  the  same  as  the  front  feet.  This 
will  prevent  breaking  over  too  quick  which  increases  the 

-7- 


liability  to  singlefoot,  and  fixing  hind  feet  this  way 
lengthens  the  stride  and  helps  to  confine  the  action  to  the 
trot  longer  and  purer. 

V.     SHIN  HITTING  OF  THE  FRONT  LEGS. 

A  foot  left  too  high  on  the  outside  from  centre  of 
toe  back  to  the  outside  heel  will  cause  this.  Some  travel 
very  close  and  others  wing  in :  this  winging  in  is  not  al- 
ways because  of  an  imperfect  or  unbalanced  foot,  some- 
times it  is  caused  by  a  deformity  of  the  leg,  or  a  con- 
traction of  the  muscles  or  ligaments,  sometimes  they  will 
be  either  longer  or  stronger  on  one  side  of  the  leg  than 
on  the  other,  which  has  a  tendency  to  control  winging 
or  paddling.  To  fix  a  foot  that  is  hitting  the  shins  of 
the  front  legs,  shorten  the  toe  to  a  natural  length  foot, 
while  doing  this  keep  lowering  the  outside  of  the  foot, 
leaving  the  inside  of  the  foot  quite  a  bit  higher,  by  actual 
measurement,  in  some  cases  a  quarter  of  an  inch  higher  or 
longer  is  not  too  much.  Shoe  with  a  plain  shoe  or  a  side 
weight  shoe  with  the  heavy  side  of  shoe  on  the  inside  of 
each  foot,  the  heavy  or  wider  side  of  the  shoe  will  pre- 
vent sinking  in  the  ground,  which  will  help  matters.  Bevel 
or  hot  rasp  the  inside  edge  of  shoe  from  the  inside  toe 
back  to  the  quarters.  Shoe  with  the  weight  that  the  horse 
goes  best  with. 

VI.  HOW  TO  MAKE  A  SHOE  TO  PREVENT 
WINGING  IN. 

Make  a  heavy  side  weight  shoe,  the  same  kind  of 
shoe  as  for  a  paddler  but  the  weight  or  heavy  side  of 
shoe  will  have  to  be  on  the  inside  of  the  foot.  Fix  the 
feet,  according  to  article  in  this  book  on  winging  in,  to 
receive  this  shoe.  Bevel  or  round  off  the  inside  toe  back 
to  quarters   on   this   shoe.     With   the   foot  properly   fixed 


for  this  shoe  there  will  be  an  immediate  change.  If  a 
toe  weight  is  used  keep  spur  towards  inside  toe  from 
centre  of  foot  but  not  far  enough  to  hit  knee  boot. 

VII.  SHIN  HITTING  OF  THE  HIND  LEGS. 
There  are  different  causes  for  this  trouble.  In  the 
trotter  it  is  because  the  hind  action  and  the  front  action 
do  not  work  in  harmony  with  one  another.  Excessive 
hind  action  will  cause  it,  or  excessive  front  action  in  some 
cases  will  cause  it.  A  front  foot  that  is  highest  or  longest 
on  the  outside  toe  will  cause  it.  What  will  cause  it  the 
quickest  and  more  severely  is  a  high  inside  on  the  hind 
foot,  especially  on  a  horse  that  has  been  going  open  gaited 
behind.  If  your  horse  has  plenty  of  action  in  front  and  is 
going  in  a  medium  light  shoe  I  would  advise  you  to  level 
his  hind  feet;  be  sure  and  do  not  have  the  inside  of  hind 
teet  the  highest  (which  is  nearly  always  the  case),  but  if 
anything  have  it  a  shade  the  lowest,  and  shoe  the  hind 
feet  with  an  outside  weight  shoe  several  ounces  heavier 
than  he  has  been  carrying ;  this  will  widen  his  hind  action 
and  when  he  gets  to  going  the  weight  will  keep  him  out- 
side and  clear.  This  weight  can  be  decreased  as  his  gait 
is  being  perfected.  The  most  particular  part  of  this  will 
be  to  get  his  feet  properly  prepared  to  help  the  line  of 
action. 

Perhaps  your  horse  is  short  in  his  front  action,  low 
and  dwelling  gaited,  too  much  so  for  his  hind  action,  if 
so,  shoe  him  in  front  with  heavier  shoe,  say  5  ounce 
heavier  or  even  more  as  the  case  may  need,  bevel  or  roll 
the  toe,  also  bevel  the  outside  edge  from  the  outside  toe 
to  heel  of  front  shoes  where  the  shin  hitting  is  done.  If 
your  horse  wings  in  towards  his  knees  or  arms,  the  inside 
of  front  feet  should  be  left  the  highest.  I  prefer  in  shoe- 
ing such  horses  to  keep  them  going  as  close  in  line  as  pos- 

-9- 


sible  with  hind  legs  and  if  he  cannot,  without  interference, 
then  they  will  have  to  go  outside  (see  article  on  how  to 
widen  hind  action). 

VIII.     KNEE  AND  ARM  HITTING. 

This  has  been  a  great  worry  to  "the  smart  set,"  "the 
know  it  alls"  for  many  years,  as  to  what  causes  it,  and 
what  to  do  to  help  or  prevent  it.  Winging  in  is  caused 
sometimes  by  a  deformity,  or  by  contracted  muscles  or 
ligaments  strongeron  one  side  of  the  leg  than  on  the  other; 
sometimes  deformed  feet,  or  a  badly  contracted  inside  quar- 
ter will  be  the  cause  of  some  of  this  trouble,  because  the 
weight  of  the  horse  at  the  ankle  drops  over  the  inside  heel 
instead  of  coming  down  in  the  middle  of  the  foot.  A  con- 
tracted inside  quarter  and  a  high  or  long  outside  toe  are 
dangerous  weapons  for  a  horse  to  be  carrying,  one  of  these 
at  a  time  is  bad  enough,  but  when  a  foot  is  troubled  with 
both  it  is  very  bad.  If  your  knee  or  ami  hitter  has  a  con- 
tracted quarter  on  a  front  foot,  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to 
get  a  hoof  expander  and  expand  the  contracted  quarter. 
This  will  be  an  important  step  towards  getting  the  leg  in 
the  middle  of  the  foot.  In  all  my  experience  with  knee  and 
arm  hitters  I  have  found  the  offending  foot  too  high  on  the 
outside,  with  the  most  of  the  foot  from  the  center  of  the 
frog  on  the  outside  of  the  leg.  With  height  and  width  of 
foot  on  the  outside  of  the  leg,  it  is  just  contrary  to  science. 
To  straighten  the  line  of  action  this  needs  to  be  reversed ; 
edge  up  the  outside  edge  of  the  foot  from  the  outside  toe 
to  the  point  at  quarters  as  much  as  it  will  stand,  do  it  at 
every  shoeing  and  you  will  be  getting  the  leg  closer  to  the 
middle  of  the  foot.  If  you  can  get  a  little  more  of  the  foot 
on  the  inside  of  the  leg  than  is  on  the  outside,  it  will  be  a 
benefit  to  a  bad  knee  and  arm  hitter.  Another  thing,  the 
shorter  the  toe  or  angle  of  a  knee  hitter  the  easier  he  can 
leave  the  ground  and  the  less  he  will  wing  in,  and  the  lighter 

-10- 


will  be  the  blow  if  he  hits.  The  knee  hitter  should  be  shod 
as  lightly  as  he  will  go  at  speed,  balanced.  The  lighter  the 
weight  he  is  carrying  the  lighter  the  blow  if  he  strikes. 
The  best  kind  of  a  shoe  for  a  knee-hitter  is  a  side  weight 
shoe  with  the  heavy  side  on  the  inside  of  the  foot;  good 
results  are  obtained  with  heel  and  toe  calks,  the  toe  calks 
well  set  back  on  the  toe  of  the  shoe. 

These  calks  on  the  shoe  of  a  knee  and  arm  hitter 
should  be  a  little  thin  so  as  to  catch  hold  of  the  ground  as 
the  foot  goes  to  twist  before  he  picks  it  up ;  they  will  pre- 
vent a  certain  amount  of  twisting  while  the  body  of  the 
animal  is  gliding  over  the  weight-bearing  portion  of  the 
leg  as  the  foot  leaves  the  ground.  They  will  have  a  ten- 
dency to  make  him  break  over  squarer  and  not  so  hard  on 
the  outside  toe  as  the  foot  is  leaving  the  ground.  Now  if 
your  knee-hitter  wears  a  toe  weight  attach  it  towards  the 
inside  toe  as  far  as  possible  but  not  far  enough  to  the 
inside  so  as  he  will  strike  the  opposite  leg  with  it.  When 
the  feet  of  a  knee-hitter  have  been  gotten  in  the  shape  as 
described  herein  and  shod  accordingly;  why,  the  horse  will 
think  that  he  has  been  baptized  and  born  over  again.  A 
perfect  foot  is  rare,  but  with  good  judgment,  a  good  eye  and 
a  little  patience  and  perseverance  a  lot  can  be  accomplished 
that  will  surprise  some  of  those  that  think  they  know  it 
all.  In  a  knee  hitter,  also  in  an  arm  hitter,  the  bones  of  the 
foot  and  leg  do  not  work  true  in  their  sockets,  clear  up  to 
the  knee,  even  the  joint  at  the  knee  does  not  work  true,  the 
knee  joint  has  a  faulty  motion,  instead  of  breaking  straight 
forward,  it  breaks  out  sideways  as  the  rest  of  the  leg 
starts  to  wing  in.  By  building  the  foot  mostly  to  the  inside 
of  the  leg  and  having  width  and  height  of  foot  on  the 
inside  you  are  taking  some  of  the  power  away  that  causes 
the  winging  in,  and  the  breaking  outward  of  the  knee. 
It  is  something  strange,  but  I  have  known  knee  and  shin 
and  arm  hitters  to  be  turned  out  with  their  shoes  on  in 


paddocks,  and  you  would  seldom  see  them  hurt  themselves, 
but  put  the  harness  on,  hitch  them  up,  and  start  them  at 
speed  and  take  a  pull  of  75  or  100  pounds  on  their  lower 
jaw  and  the  trouble  would  begin.  The  directions  in  this 
article  for  fixing  the  foot  for  knee  and  arm  hitting  are 
also  the  surest  remedy  for  horses  that  toe  out  badly,  a 
fault  that  is  so  objectionable  to  all  horsemen.  If  you  use 
a  sideweight  shoe  on  a  front  foot  to  prevent  shin,  knee  and 
arm  hitting,  the  heavy  part  of  shoe  should  be  on  the  inside 
of  foot,  but  if  you  leave  the  outside  of  the  foot  one-sixteenth 
or  one-eighth  of  an  inch  higher  than  the  inside,  you  will 
be   working  against  the  results  you  are  looking  for. 

It  looks  strange  to  many  people  that  an  outside-weight 
shoe  to  a  front  foot  has  a  tendency  to  make  a  horse  wing 
in,  and  the  same  shoe  applied  to  a  hind  foot  will  widen 
the  hind  action,  with  the  foot  fixed  for  that  purpose.  If 
you  can  fix  the  foot  properly  to  control  the  line  of  action 
that  you  want,  you  will  surely  accomplish  something.  You 
should  know  what  angle  suits  the  action  best.  The  foot 
should  be  symmetrical  in  shape  to  conform  with  the  coffin 
bone,  have  no  more  foot  on  one  side  of  the  frog  than  on 
the  other  side,  and  the  bearing  surface  to  hang  so  as  the 
foot  will  land  on  and  leave  the  ground  as  square  or  level  as 
possible. 

IX.    JOGGING  A  KNEE  KNOCKER  WINTER  AND 
SPRING,  AND  THE  BEST  WAY  TO  SHOE 
AND  FIX  THE  FOOT  TO  DEVELOP 
THE  MUSCLES. 
Lower  the  outside  of  the  foot  of  the  winging  in  leg, 
and  keep  it  the  lozvest.     Shoe  the  foot  with  a  very  light 
shoe,  plain  or  bar  shoe,  have  a  side  pocket  weight  made  that 
will  carry  from  6  to  9  ounces  of  lead  with  a  spur  on  it;  cut 
or  burn  a  hole  in  the  bottom  edge  of  the  foot  midway  be- 
tween toe  and  heel  for  the  spur,  buckle  it  tight  to  foot,  the 

-12- 


weight  to  be  on  inside  of  foot.  Tf  the  horse  wings  in  with 
both  front  feet  use  the  pocket  weights  on  both  feet  and  fix 
both  feet  as  directed  above.  This  will  have  a  wonderful 
effect  in  developing  muscle  while  taking  his  slow  work  that 
will  help  to  prevent  winging  in  so  bad  when  he  begins  faster 
work.  This  knee  knocker  should  be  shod  with  a  side 
weight  shoe,  the  heft  of  weight  on  inside  of  foot,  shoe 
should  be  very  light  on  outside.  This  shoe  should  be  made 
thick  on  inside  with  a  bevel  thinned  towards  the  outside 
toe,  a  difficult  shoe  to  make  to  be  used  when  pocket  weights 
are  discarded  for  fast  work. 

X.     A  BAD  SHIN,  KNEE  AND  ARM  HITTER. 
TROTTER. 

A  chronic  shin,  knee  and  arm  hitter  was  a  horse  called 
Rustler,  owned  at  Richmond,  Va.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
summer  that  he  raced  so  well,  he  was  working  miles 
around  2:41  and  2:42  but  very  unsteady,  breaking  con- 
tinually. He  would  begin  by  hitting  his  shins,  as  speed 
was  increased  he  would  hit  his  knees  and  arms  so  hard  that 
he  would  not  stay  on  the  trot.  He  was  brought  to  me  to 
shoe  by  his  colored  groom,  who  also  brought  his  boots,  as  I 
had  never  seen  the  horse  in  action,  but  after  seeing  the 
boots  he  wore,  I  saw  at  a  glance  he  needed  as  far  as  gaiting 
or  balancing  was  concerned,  to  be  regenerated.  He  was  a 
large  horse,  and  his  feet  had  not  grown  much  from  the 
last  shoeing  so  as  I  could  change  them  to  my  liking.  I  was 
informed  that  he  went  best  in  light  shoes,  but  the  owner 
told  me  to  use  my  own  judgment,  so  I  did.  I  made  a  pair 
of  sideweight  shoes,  18  ounces  with  toe  and  heel  calks,  the 
heavy  side  of  shoes  on  the  inside  of  each  front  foot,  the 
outside  of  each  front  shoe  as  light  as  possible.  After  level- 
ing his  hind  feet,  a  light  shoe  with  heel  calks  was  put  on. 
The  owner,  Mr.  C.  J.  Smith  of  Richmond,  Va.,  came  to  the 

-13- 


shop  and  looked  at  the  front  shoes  and  did  not  like  the  job, 
as  to  the  weight  and  the  calks,  thinking  if  he  did  not  knock 
a  leg  off,  he  would  cut  boots  and  legs  to  smithereens.  I 
told  him  I  would  change  them  if  he  thought  it  best,  but 
before  I  got  ready  to  take  them  off  he  said  leave  them  on 
and  I  will  try  them  and  see  what  he  will  do  with  them. 
The  groom  drove  him  out  to  the  track,  and  Mr.  Smith, 
being  present,  ordered  the  groom  to  drive  him  a  slow  mile 
as  the  trainer  was  not  there ;  he  worked  the  second  mile  so 
easy  that  he  was  worked  another  easy  mile  in  2:21,  the 
last  quarter  well  within  himself  in  33  seconds  without  a 
break,  over  the  same  half-mile  track  on  which  he  could 
not  beat  2:41  previous  to  this  shoeing.  They  said  when 
he  got  on  his  stride  there  was  nothing  the  matter  with  him. 
I  had  not  heard  from  the  horse  for  nearly  a  week  when 
one  day  as  the  owner  was  driving  by  I  hailed  him  asking 
how  was  Rustler,  he  said  "he  is  all  right,  there  isn't  a  thing 
the  matter  with  him."  He  went  to  the  races,  started  in 
at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  after  winning  seven  or  eight 
consecutive  races,  finished  at  Readville  a  close  second  in 
2:12.  Most  of  his  races  were  won  in  the  same  front 
shoes  it  took  to  balance  him,  and  yet  some  writers  will  say 
you  cannot  get  immediate   results. 

XI.     SHIN,  KNEE  AND  ARM  HITTING  PACER. 

H.  J.  Rockwell  and  Rustler  a  pacer  and  trotter  re- 
spectively, would  hit  and  cut  their  boots  something  terrible. 
I  took  H.  J.  Rockwell  away  from  his  knees  by  the  mode  of 
foot  fixing  and  shoeing  hereinbefore  prescribed  and  that 
made  a  race  horse  of  him,  whereas  he  had  been  hitting  his 
knees  for  several  years.  While  he  was  hitting  his  knees  he 
was  rated  as  a  quitter,  but  after  he  began  to  beat  horses 
like  "B.  B."  over  the  half-mile  tracks,  the  race  followers 
wanted  to  know  from  his  trainer,  the  late  F.   M.  Dodge, 

-14- 


what  he  had  done  to  him.  I  mention  this  particular  case 
because  the  public  or  horsemen  that  knew  this  horse  knew 
he  was  a  tough  proposition  to  balance. 

XII.  ELBOW  HITTING. 
Some  horses  do  this  when  being  speeded.  It  is  caused 
bv  excessive  knee  action,  in  folding  up  of  the  leg,  also  in 
the  flexing  of  the  pastern  joint.  It  is  faulty  or  lost  action. 
For  elbow  hitting,  as  a  rule,  the  horse  should  be  made  to  go 
in  as  light  a  shoe  as  possible,  he  should  get  his  training 
with  his  front  feet  kept  as  low  as  possible  at  the  quarters 
and  heels  and  the  foot  at  an  angle  of  about  49  degrees,  he 
should  be  shod  as  light  as  possible  with  plain  or  bar  shoes, 
and  with  as  light  a  toe  -weight  as  possible,  for  the  more  toe 
weight  he  carries  the  harder  he  will  go  to  his  elbows.  Most 
all  elbow  hitters  hit  their  elbows  with  the  toes  of  the  shoe 
while  the  knee  is  being  elevated.  It  would  be  a  hard  matter 
for  a  horse  to  hit  his  elbows  with  the  heels  of  the  shoes 
with  the  knee  extended  and  elevated,  for  at  this  time  is 
when  the  fold  of  the  knee  and  flexing  of  the  pastern  causes 
the  toe  of  the  shoe  to  strike  against  the  elbow.  If  prepar- 
ing the  foot  for  the  shoe  as  stated  above  and  shoeing  the 
feet  light  does  not  stop  the  elbow  hitting  apply  a  bar  shoe 
with  most  all  the  weight  in  the  bar  and  quarters  of  the 
shoe,  the  shoe  being  light  as  possible  around  the  toe  where 
the  nail  holes  are  punched.  Be  sure  and  have  the  quarters 
and  heels  as  low  as  possible.  The  reason  for  low  quarters 
and  heels  on  an  elbow  hitter  is,  that  it  makes  a  longer  angle 
to  leave  the  ground  from,  and  it  gives  a  longer  bearing 
surface  behind  the  leg,  to  receive  the  weight  that  is  in  the 
quarters  and  bar  of  the  shoe  which  is  put  there  to  prevent 
some  of  the  folding  of  the  knee  and  some  of  the  flexing  of 
the  pastern  that  causes  the  interference.  I  have  been  very 
successful  shoeing  elbow  hitters  with  this  kind  of  a  shoe. 
All  elbow  hitters  should  be  worked  to  go  as  low  headed  as 

-15- 


possible,  a  standing  martingale  works  well  on  some.  If 
you  put  on  too  much  of  a  toe  weight  on  some  horses  that 
go  close  to  their  elbows  it  will  drive  their  action  to,  or 
against  their  elbows.  Now  this  being  the  case,  if  toe 
weights  will  drive  him  to  his  elbows  a  heel  weight  will 
usually  prevent  folding  against  the  elbows. 

Now  in  making  this  shoe  for  an  elbow  hitter  it  will  be 
necessary  to  add  from  four  to  six  ounces  more  weight  to 
the  shoes  than  he  has  been  carrying,  but  put  it  all  in  the 
quarters  and  bar  at  the  heels,  and  keep  adding  weight  to 
the  heels  of  front  shoes  until  he  stops  hitting  his  elbows. 
This  kind  of  a  shoe  is  to  be  used  when  a  very  light  shoe 
fails  to  prevent  elbow  hitting.  Squaring  the  toe  of  the 
shoe  will  also  help  to  lighten  the  blow,  or  take  him  that 
much  farther  away  from  his  elbows. 

To  decrease  the  lofty  folding  action  of  elbow  hitters 
the  foot  should  be  placed  at  an  angle  of  from  47  to  49 
degrees  or  as  near  to  that  as  possible,  and  add  the  amount 
of  weight  of  shoes  he  has  been  carrying  to  the  toe  weight 
and  also  add  not  less  than  four  or  five  ounces  more  to  each 
of  a  pair  of  heel  weight  shoes,  when  a  light  one  did  not 
answer.  Do  not  use  any  toe  weight,  but  if  the  heel  weight 
bar  shoes  are  not  heavy  enough,  a  heavier  shoe  or  quarter 
boot  can  be  used. 

One  thing  that  should  not  be  overlooked  in  a  horse 
hitting  his  elbows  is  his  hind  action,  it  should  be  examined 
closely.  The  hind  action  may  be  too  dwelling  gaited,  the 
stride  may  be  too  short  or  too  long.  Now  if  the  hind  action 
is  of  a  sluggish  nature,  it  will  be  a  benefit  to  increase  his 
propelling  power,  it  will  drive  his  elbow  an  inch,  more  or 
less,  away  from  the  flexing  of  the  foot  against  it.  If  he  is 
long  and  dwelly  gaited  you  can  quicken  or  make  him  more 
rapid,  if  he  is  striding  too  short  you  can  lengthen  his  stride 
by  fixing  his  feet  and  applying  weight.  It  is  very  important 
to   increase   his   propelling  power.     A   horse   that   hits   his 

-16- 


elbows  needs  to  be  balanced  by  foot  fixing,  and  the  applying 
of  weight  to  go  on  as  light  a  line  as  possible,  because  the 
harder  he  pulls  on  the  bit  when  at  speed  the  more  he  is 
inclined  to  hit  his  elbows. 

If  the  hind  stride  is  too  long  and  d welly,  shorten  the 
hind  toes  considerably  and  use  a  square  toe  shoe  and  raise 
the  heels  with  a  side  calk.  If  the  hind  stride  is  too  short 
lower  the  quarters  and  heels  of  the  hind  feet  as  much  as 
they  will  stand  and  add  two  or  three  ounces  more  weight 
to  the  hind  shoes.  With  toe  and  heel  calks  a  horse  with  a 
long  cannon  bone,  with  lofty  action  that  flexes  his  foot 
from  the  ground  with  a  snap  is  more  likely  to  hit  his  elbows 
than  a  horse  with  shorter  cannon  bones. 

XIII.     AN  UNUSUAL  CASE  OF  ELBOW 
HITTING. 

A  horse  that  hits  the  right  elbow  with  the  left  foot  and 
the  left  elbow  with  the  right  foot  is  seldom  seen.  The 
horse  Hunter  Hill  would  begin  doing  this  when  going  at  a 
2:40  gait  or  better,  and  would  act  bad  and  unsteady.  He 
was  brought  to  me  to  shoe  and  I  was  told  he  could  not 
carry  any  weight.  As  he  had  not  enough  foot  to  change,  I 
told  the  trainer  he  would  have  to  carry  weight  to  counteract 
the  faulty  winging  in  to  the  elbows.  I  made  a  pair  of 
eighteen  ounce  heavy  side  weight  shoes  with  the  weight  on 
the  inside  of  each  front  shoe,  thin  heel  and  toe  calks,  toe 
calks  well  set  back  on  toe  of  front  shoes.  These  shoes 
took  him  away  from  his  elbows  and  he  raced  good  over  the 
half-mile  tracks  stepping  miles  around  2:12.  After  he  got 
gaited  these  side-weight  shoes  were  discarded  for  plain 
lighter  shoes. 

XIV.     PADDLING. 

Just  the  reverse  to  winging  in,  a  tiresome  lost  motion, 
a  source  of  worry  to  horse  and  driver,  especially  if  the 

-17- 


horse  has  speed  and  is  driven  on  sharp  turns  on  half-mile 
tracks,  but  it  is  not  as  dangerous  as  the  winging  in  hard 
to  knees.  Paddling  is  more  easily  controlled  than  winging 
in.  Now  to  straighten  the  paddler,  fix  the  foot  on  the  leg 
that  paddles,  by  cutting  or  rasping  the  inside  of  the  foot 
from  the  inside  toe  back  to  the  inside  heel  as  low  as  pos- 
sible, leaving  the  outside  toe  the  highest  or  longest  to  leave 
the  ground  from.  Be  sure  and  have  the  inside  of  foot  the 
lowest,  the  outside  toe  the  longest.  To  begin  this  an  angle 
close  to  50  degrees  or  less,  say  49,  will  have  wonderful 
effect.  The  long  or  high  toe  on  the  outside  will  have  a 
tendency  to  make  the  leg  wing  towards  his  knees  at  speed 
which  is  the  controlling  influence  against  paddling.  The 
long  or  high  outside  toe  is  the  part  that  has  to  leave  the 
ground  the  last,  which  creates  winging,  and  helps  to  stop 
paddling.  To  shoe  a  paddler,  shoe  with  a  light  shoe,  with 
as  little  weight  as  possible  to  go  balanced.  The  more 
weight  the  more  he  will  paddle,  the  less  weight  the  less 
paddle. 

The  best  shoe  for  a  bad  paddler  is  a  side-weight  shoe 
extra  heavy  on  the  outside  of  foot,  bevel  the  outside  edges 
of  front  shoes  good.  If  the  change  of  action  is  not  quick 
enough  you  can  use  a  toe  weight  placed  on  the  foot  well 
to  the  outside  toe  of  foot.  When  I  could  not  get  the  inside 
of  foot  low  enough  compared  with  the  outside  of  foot  I 
have  made  the  front  shoes  thicker  on  the  outside  than  the 
inside.  When  you  have  fixed  the  feet  and  shod  a  paddler 
this  way  you  will  begin  to  think  that  paddling  can  be  stopped 
when  at  speed.  Most  paddlers  must  go  as  light  in  front  as 
possible.  With  the  feet  fixed  and  shod  as  herein  stated 
you  will  be  surprised  at  the  change  of  action  that  will 
take  place  when  at  speed,  after  a  week's  driving.  The  faster 
the  paddler  is  driven  the  less  paddling  he  will  be  doing. 
The  outside  of  the  foot  on  a  paddler  needs  to  be  kept  the 
highest,  which  is  just  to  the   reverse  of  a  knee  and  arm 

-18- 


hitter,  this  applies  to  the  front  feet  and  action  of  the  front 
legs. 

XV.  HOW  TO  MAKE  A  SHOE  TO  PREVENT 
PADDLING. 

Take  a  piece  of  iron  or  steel  two  or  three  ounces 
heavier  than  the  shoe  the  horse  has  been  carrying  and  draw 
one  end  of  it  very  light  having  it  quite  thin.  Make  a  heavy 
outside  weight  shoe  of  it,  leaving  all  the  thickness  at  the 
outside  toe  of  shoe,  thin  the  outside  heel  down  to  the 
same  as  the  inside  heel.  The  outside  edge  of  this  shoe  will 
be  thick,  but  tapering  thin  to  the  inside  edge  of  the  outside 
web  of  shoe.  This  shoe  begins  to  get  light,  narrow  and 
very  thin  at  centre  of  toe  around  to  inside  heel.  Look  up 
article  on  foot  fixing  to  prevent  paddling  at  speed  when 
using  this  shoe.  The  horse's  foot  will  have  to  leave  the 
ground  from  the  outside  toe  of  this  shoe  when  stepping 
fast  and  this  will  have  a  tendency  to  make  him  wing  in, 
and  the  line  of  action  will  become  straighter  as  the  animal 
becomes  accustomed  to  it.  This  change  can  be  quite  radical, 
on  a  horse  that  has  been  paddling  a  long  time,  and  not  so 
rank  on  young  stock  just  beginning  to  get  gaited.  This 
shoe  does  not  stop  the  paddling  on  all  animals  when  jog- 
ging slow  as  the  foot  can  leave  the  ground  or  break  over 
from  center  or  inside  toe  of  shoe,  which  has  no  control  to 
prevent  a  slight  paddle. 

XVI.     HITCHING,   HOPPING   OR  RUNNING 
BEHIND. 

This  way  of  going  comes  from  different  causes.  An 
unbalanced  foot  from  being  improperly  fixed,  will  cause  it. 
The  improper  weight  of  shoes  at  one  end  or  the  other,  or 
all  around,  will  cause  it;  speeding  a  colt  or  horse  that  is 
pulling  too  much  weight,  especially  up  a  grade,  will  cause 


it;  forging,  scalping,  speedy-cutting,  shin  and  hock  hitting 
will  cause  it;  carrying  the  head  to  one  side  at  times  will 
cause  it;  soreness  of  the  back,  rump  or  muscles  of  whirl- 
bone,  stifle  or  thigh  will  cause  it. 

Examine  the  faulty  leg  for  soreness,  for  if  the  horse 
is  not  lame  from  soreness  somewhere,  he  can  be  balanced 
to  go  true.  If  a  horse  begins  hitching,  his  fast  work  should 
be  stopped  until  he  is  properly  balanced,  for  no  horse  can 
improve  his  speed  after  he  becomes  rough  gaited  without 
danger  to  himself.  The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  get  him 
balanced.  First,  see  that  his  feet  are  level.  Nine  times 
out  of  ten  you  will  find  his  feet  are  not  mates  or  do  not 
hang  level,  you  will  find  the  foot  on  the  offending  leg  that  is 
doing  the  damage  different  from  its  mate.  In  all  my  expe- 
rience I  have  found  the  foot  on  the  faulty  gaited  leg  to  be 
very  high  on  the  inside,  if  not  at  the  toe,  it  would  be  at  the 
heel,  but  the  majority  of  times  it  would  be  high  from  toe 
to  heel,  which  would  be  the  main  cause  of  the  hitching. 
Fix  the  front  feet  to  hang  level,  the  angle  and  length  of 
toes  the  same.  The  two  hind  feet  should  be  at  the  same 
angle  and  have  the  same  length  of  toe.  The  foot  of  the 
faulty  going  leg  should  be  made  the  lowest  on  the  inside 
and  the  shoe  to  be  used  on  this  foot  must  weigh  double  the 
weight  or  from  one  to  three  ounces  more  than  double  the 
weight  of  the  one  on  the  opposite  hind  foot.  This  shoe 
can  be  made  with  the  weight  in  the  outside,  with  the  inside 
edge  from  the  centre  of  toe  back  to  the  inside  quarter 
rounded  or  beveled  off  considerably,  fit  the  shoe  full  to  the 
outside  toe.  If  the  hitching  horse  is  shod  according  to  these 
directions  and  does  not  begin  to  go  better  gaited,  it  is  be- 
cause he  is  lame.  If  he  carries  five  ounce  shoes  behind  put 
twelve  or  thirteen  ounce  on  the  faulty  gaited  leg  and  the 
light  shoe  on  perfect  gaited  leg. 

-20- 


XVII.     FORGING. 

This  is  a  very  annoying  fault  and  the  same  rules  to 
remedy  it  do  not  apply  to  all  horses,  for  what  will  stop  one 
may  not  stop  another.  Most  all  forging  will  be  done  jog- 
ging, or  going  an  ordinary  road  gait.  From  forging  comes 
the  scalping  which  is  very  dangerous  when  the  horse  begins 
to  brush  along,  as  scalping  creates  rough  and  bad  gaited 
horses.  There  are  many  horses  that  will  forge  or  scalp 
going  slow  in  the  same  shoes  that  suit  them  for  speed.  It 
is  hard  to  shoe  all  horses  with  a  set  of  shoes  that  will  suit 
the  horse,  the  driver  and  a  faulty  gait  at  varying  rates  of 
speed,  all  at  the  same  time.  Horses  that  are  low  gaited  in 
front  that  forge  jogging,  need  as  a  rule,  a  lot  more  weight 
in  their  front  shoes.  Horses  that  go  high  gaited  with  lots 
of  knee  action  in  front  that  forge  require  a  light  shoe. 
Forgers  usually  have  excessive  action  either  in  front  or 
behind.  Locate  the  faulty  end,  see  if  the  horse  has  too 
much  action  in  front  and  not  enough  behind,  or  if  he  has 
too  much  behind  and  not  enough  in  front.  Get  a  line  on 
his  gait  before  you  make  any  changes,  perhaps  you  may 
not  have  to  change  but  one  end  of  him  to  either  increase 
or  decrease  action.  Weight  in  the  shoe  is  the  important 
factor  applied  to  a  perfectly  balanced  foot,  whether  it  is  a 
front  foot  or  a  hind  foot.  You  can  add  weight  to  the  front 
or  hind  feet,  as  may  be  desired,  to  increase  action,  or  de- 
crease the  weight  to  decrease  the  action  at  either  end.  Now 
right  here  I  will  say,  a  horse  jogging  hardly  feels  a  change 
of  weight  of  one,  two  or  three  ounces,  but  will  show  the 
effect  of  five  or  six  ounces  from  the  start.  Do  not  be  afraid 
to  apply  a  heavy  shoe  to  hind  feet  for  if  his  action  re- 
quires it  to  prevent  forging,  the  horse  will  like  it  better 
and  so  will  you. 

In  adding  weight  to  hind  feet  you  will  be  increasing 
the  hock  action  and  in  some  horses  it  will  take  considerable 
weight  to  do  it;  horses  going  an  ordinary  road  gait  will 

-21- 


not  feel  one,  two  or  three  ounces  increase  of  weight  in 
hind  shoes.  Horses  stepping  fast  as  a  rule  do  not  do  any 
forging  and,  of  course,  the  lighter  they  can  go  the  better. 
There  are  many  horses — fast  trotters — that  forge  or  scalp 
jogging,  that  would  go  cleaner  or  purer  by  applying  a  four- 
ounce  toe  weight,  some  may  need  a  five-ounce  weight,  lots 
of  them  have  to  be  jogged  too  fast  in  order  to  prevent 
forging  or  scalping,  when  perhaps  a  toe  weight  would  be 
the  remedy.  A  horse  going  a  2:10  gait  will  feel  the  effects 
of  a  one  or  two  ounce  weight  as  much  as  one  going  a  slow 
gait  would  feel  the  effects  of  four  or  five  ounces. 

Take  a  side  view  of  your  horse  as  he  is  driven  by  and 
locate  the  faulty  action,  you  will  be  able  to  tell  if  it  is  too 
short,  too  long,  too  high  or  too  low,  too  rapid  or  too  dwelly, 
front  or  hind  action.  If  the  lost  action  is  in  front  as  to 
height,  extension  or  rapidity,  fix  the  feet  to  help  the  shoes 
to  perfect  the  action.  If  the  front  action  is  too  low  shorten 
the  toes,  leave  the  heels  high  or  raise  them  with  shoe  or 
side  calks  and  shoe  with  a  shoe  five  or  six  ounces  heavier, 
more  or  less,  as  the  action  requires,  use  a  square  or  bevel 
toe  shoe.  A  rolling  toe  shoe  is  good  on  slow-going  horses, 
the  horse  should  carry  his  head  higher  than  usual.  If  the 
front  action  is  too  high,  lower  the  quarters  and  heels  as 
low  as  they  will  stand,  and  shoe  with  a  light  shoe,  and  if 
there  is  not  extension  enough  use  a  toe  weight  to  balance 
up  action,  the  horse  should  carry  his  head  lower,  or  natural. 
If  the  hind  action  is  too  low  shorten  toes  as  much  as  they 
will  stand  and  add  several  ounces  more  weight  and  raise 
the  heels  a  half  inch  or  more.  If  hind  action  is  too  high 
lower  quarters  and  heels  as  low  as  they  will  stand,  keeping 
plenty  of  toe  on  hind  feet  and  shoe  with  a  very  light  shoe 
to  prevent  slipping.  If  he  is  handling  his  hind  legs  too 
rapid  for  the  front  ones,  this  last  sentence  will  remedy  that 
also.  I  have  seen  obstinate  forgers  at  a  slow  gait  stopped 
by  carrying  from  two  to  three  times  more  weight  on  the 
hind  feet  than  in  the  front  feet,  and  vice  versa,  according 
to  their  front  or  hind  action. 

-22- 


XVIII.     SCALPING. 

This  is  a  very  dangerous  fault.  When  a  horse  is  mak- 
ing speed  and  begins  scalping,  he  is  unbalanced  quite  bad, 
he  needs  changing  before  being  speeded  again  for  if  you 
don't  he  or  she  will  get  rough  gaited,  or  will  begin  carrying 
the  hind  leg  between  front  ones,  hopping,  or  trying  to  run 
with  hind  action.  The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  examine  the 
hind  feet,  you  are  likely  to  find  the  hind  feet  a  lot  higher 
on  the  inside  than  on  the  outside  nine  times  out  of  ten. 
Some  horses  will  begin  scalping  after  their  feet  get  too 
long.  In  horses  with  excessive  action,  carrying  too  much 
weight  in  front  will  cause  scalping  at  speed.  Horses  with 
very  little  action  in  front  and  not  carrying  weight  enough 
will  be  liable  to  scalp  at  speed.  When  shoeing  for  scalping 
use  a  square  toe  shoe,  light  or  heavy,  as  may  be  required 
by  the  front  action. 

Feet  all  out  of  proportion  and  at  the  wrong  angle  and 
not  level  will  cause  scalping.  Now  if  the  animal  has  very 
little  hock  action  and  mostly  stifle  action,  I  would  lower 
and  shorten  the  toes  of  the  hind  feet  as  much  as  possible, 
use  a  square  toe  shoe  and  raise  the  heels  with  a  side  calk, 
this  will  shorten  the  stride  and  by  adding  some  weight  to 
the  hind  shoe  it  will  increase  hock  action.  Most  all  scalp- 
ing is  done  with  front  or  outside  toe  of  the  front  shoe 
coming  in  contact  with  the  coronet  of  hind  foot.  It  hurts 
the  horse  so  much  that  he  will  try  to  find  some  way  to 
avoid  it ;  some  trainers  use  a  gaiting  pole  to  prevent  the 
horse  from  going  crooked  in  the  shafts  because  of  this  fault. 

XIX.     REMEDY  FOR  SCALPING. 

If  the  front  action  is  low,  long  and  of  a  sluggish  nature, 
shorten  the  toes  of  feet  considerable  and  add  about  five 
ounces  more  weight  to  the  shoes,  or  more,  if  required  to 
create  a  more  lofty  knee  fold.     The  action  of  some  horses 

-23- 


requires  a  lot  more  weight  than  others  to  make  the  change. 
The  shoes  to  be  used,  if  working  to  make  speed  should  be 
a  square  toe  shoe,  or  a  beveled  toe  shoe,  also  a  wedged 
shaped  shoe  thick  at  the  heels  and  thin  at  the  toe  is  good, 
squared  at  the  toe.  For  ordinary  road  driving  a  rolling  toe 
shoe  is  good,  but  not  for  extreme  speed,  as  it  has  a  ten- 
dency with  most  horses  to  slip  back  too  much  on  leaving 
the  ground  ;  and  the  horse  should  be  made  to  carry  his 
head  higher  than  usual.  If  the  front  action  is  high,  short, 
or  too  rapid,  not  working  in  harmony  with  the  hind,  lower 
the  quarters  and  heels  of  front  feet  as  much  as  they  will 
stand  and  keep  a  fair  length  toe  on  the  front  feet  and  shoe 
with  a  very  light  shoe  and  use  a  toe  weight  to  balance  for 
extension,  place  a  spur  for  toe  weight  well  up  on  toe  of  foot 
out  of  way  of  the  scalping ;  and  the  horse  should  be  made 
to  go  as  low  headed  as  is  comfortable  to  him. 

If  the  hind  action  is  low,  long  or  of  a  dwelling  nature, 
shorten  the  toes  as  much  as  they  will  stand,  and  shoe,  to 
elevate  the  heels,  with  a  thick  heel  shoe,  or  raise  the  heels 
with  side  calks.  A  few  ounces  more  weight  than  he  has 
been  carrying  will  be  all  the  better  to  make  him  use  his 
hocks  more.  If  the  hind  action  is  high  and  choppy  with 
not  much  extension,  lower  quarters  and  heels  as  much  as 
they  will  stand  and  keep  a  fair  length  toe  on  him,  it  will 
keep  him  closer  to  the  ground  ;  and  shoe  light  to  prevent 
slipping. 

A  side  view  of  the  animal  as  he  is  driven  by  you  will 
give  you  the  correct  view  of  his  front  and  hind  action.  If 
the  action  is  too  short,  too  long,  too  high  or  too  low,  in 
front  or  behind,  the  chances  are  you  may  not  have  to  change 
but  one  end  of  him  if  you  have  a  good  eye  for  locating 
faulty  action.  If  your  horse  is  good  and  can  beat  his  record, 
or  go  the  race  of  his  life,  and  scalps  jogging,  try  a  toe 
weight  on  him  in  front,  if  it  does  not  stop  him  wear  scalpers 
on  him  jogging  and  let  well  enough  alone. 

-24- 


I  have  had  to  take  a  three  and  one  half  ounce  shoe  oft" 
a  colt  that  trotted  eighths  of  a  mile  in  seventeen  and  a 
quarter  seconds,  that  was  scalping  jogging,  and  shoe  him 
with  a  ten  and  a  half  ounce  heel  weight  shoe  nailed  back 
near  quarters  of  hind  feet  to  prevent  him  from  scalping  at 
the  jog,  after  two  changes  in  the  front  shoeing. 

XX.     SIDEWEIGHTS. 

Sideweight  shoes  with  the  weight  on  the  outside  have 
a  different  effect  or  result  on  front  and  hind  action.  An 
outside-weight  shoe  on  a  front  foot  has  a  tendency  to  make 
the  leg  wing  in,  and  an  outside  weight  shoe  on  a  hind  foot 
will  widen  and  lengthen  the  stride,  if  feet  are  properly 
prepared,  so  you  see  it  widens  the  hind  action  and  closes  the 
front  action.  To  close  the  action  of  the  front  leg  with  this 
sideweight,  lower  the  front  foot  on  the  inside.  To  widen 
the  action  of  hind  leg,  lower  the  inside  of  hind  feet.  This 
sideweight  shoe  will  help  a  paddler  that  has  to  carry  a  little 
weight,  if  you  will  lower  the  inside  of  the  foot,  but  it  is 
no  good  for  a  knee  knocker.  The  outside-weight  shoe  has 
a  different  effect  on  front  and  hind  action,  has  a  tendency 
to  close  one  and  widen  the  other. 

Sidewreight  shoes  are  good  to  correct  the  following 
faulty  lines  of  action  if  the  feet  are  correctly  prepared  for 
them  to  help  the  shoe,  for  if  the  foot,  or  feet,  are  not  prop- 
erly fixed  to  help  the  line  of  action  this  faulty  fixed  foot 
will  work  against  the  effect  of  the  sideweight,  and  the  re- 
sults will  be  very  unsatisfactory.  Sideweight  shoes  are  best 
for  winging  in,  or  paddling  out,  with  front  legs,  hitching 
or  hopping. or  carrying  a  hind  leg  in,  out  of  line,  or  carry- 
ing a  hind  leg  between  the  front  legs,  also  good  for  a  wheel 
swinging  hind  leg. 

-25- 


XXL     WHEEL  SWINGING. 

A  trotter  that  is  wheel  swinging  a  hind  leg,  has  de- 
veloped a  line  of  action  that  is  tiresome,  controlled  mostly 
by  the  muscles  on  the  outside  of  leg,  that  unbalances  action 
at  speed  to  a  certain  extent,  and  it  looks  unsightly  to  a  good 
judge  of  gait,  when  coming  to  you  or  going  from  you. 
To  correct  this  faulty  line  of  action  of  wheel  swinging, 
keep  the  toe  of  hind  feet  nearly  as  long  as  the  front  feet, 
and  have  the  angle  of  the  hind  feet  within  two  or  three 
degrees  of  the  same  as  the  front  feet.  If  the  angle  of  front 
feet  is  fifty  degrees  have  the  angle  of  the  hind  feet  about 
fifty-two  or  three  degrees.  Lower  the  outside  of  hind  foot 
a  full  quarter  of  an  inch  or  more  than  it  will  be  on  the 
inside,  begin  lowering  the  outside  of  hind  foot  at  the  center 
of  toe  back  to  outside  heel,  have  both  hind  feet  the  same 
length  and  angle.  Shoe  with  a  sideweight  shoe  heaviest 
side  of  shoe  on  inside  of  foot,  with  heelcalks,  and  place 
a  thin  low  calk  about  one  inch  long  on  inside  toe  of  shoe  in 
line  from  first  to  second  nail  holes.  After  the  first  shoeing, 
if  line  of  action  has  not  improved  as  it  should,  you  must 
lower  the  outside  of  hind  foot  still  more,  but  if  you  cannot 
lower  the  foot  have  a  shoe  made  thicker  on  the  inside  toe 
and  thinner  on  the  outside  toe  and  quarters,  with  the  three 
calks  on  it  and  there  will  be  more  of  a  change.  This  change 
can  be  made  in  the  first  shoeing  if  you  have  enough  of 
foot  to  change,  but  it  is  best  for  the  horse  and  owner  not  to 
make  too  radical  a  change  too  quickly.  It  is  best  to  do  it 
in  two  or  three  shoeings,  especially  on  a  horse  that  has  a 
lot  of  speed.  Slow  going  horses  can  stand  more  of  a  radi- 
cal change  than  fast  ones. 

The  directions  in  this  article  for  the  cure  of  wheel- 
swinging,  by  foot  fixing  and  shoeing,  will  create  a  sudden 
change,  at  different  points,  on  the  bones  of  the  foot  and  leg, 
so  as  to  create  a  leverage  at  a  particular  point  as  the  foot 
leaves  the  ground,  to  control  a  more  perfect  line  of  action. 

-26- 


Be  sure  your  horse  is  not  carrying  his  head  off  to  one  side, 
the  opposite  side  to  the  wheel-swinging  leg,  for  if  so  this 
helps  to  unbalance  action  and  works  against  the  results  you 
are  trying  to  get  to  a  certain  extent.  Do  not  have  the  out- 
side heel  of  shoe  any  longer  than  the  inside  but  have  both 
same  length. 

XXII.     KNUCKLING  OVER. 

This  is  caused  by  weakness,  sometimes  of  the  liga- 
ments that  hold  the  bones  of  ankle  in  their  sockets,  and 
sometimes  higher  up.  To  shoe  for  this,  the  first  thing  to 
do  is  to  prepare  the  foot.  You  are  likely  to  find  the  hind 
feet  abnormally  long,  perhaps  longer  than  the  front  feet. 
Lower  the  toes  of  hind  feet  as  much  as  they  will  stand, 
shorten  toes  by  rasping  off  as  much  as  the  foot  will  stand, 
do  not  touch  the  heels  or  have  the  inside  of  foot  higher 
than  the  outside.  Now  use  a  light  hind  shoe,  with  side 
calks,  the  calks  to  be  one  and  a  half  to  two  inches  long,  and 
tapering  towards  the  toe  of  shoe.  At  the  point  of  heel  this 
calk  should  be  not  less  than  one-half  inch  high,  the  higher 
the  better,  a  square  toe  shoe  is  much  better  than  a  plain 
one,  shod  this  way  the  very  best  result  is  obtained  at  once. 
A  shoe  made  thick  at  heels,  three-quarters  of  an  inch  or 
more,  and  thin  at  the  toe  for  ordinary  driving  is  good. 

XXIII.     STUMBLING. 

Is  a  very  dangerous  fault  and  is  from  a  weakness  that 
can  be  helped  a  lot.  The  front  feet  of  a  stumbler  should 
be  kept  as  short  as  possible  at  the  toe.  Elevate  the  heels  as 
much  as  would  be  comfortable  to  the  leg  and  horse.  A 
stumbler  should  be  made  to  carry  some  weight  in  his  front 
shoes  because  the  weight  increases  knee  action,  and  this  is 
what  you  want  in  a  stumbler.  Shoe  with  a  toe-weight  shoe 
thick  at  the  heels,  for  height,  and  roll  the  toes  of  the  shoes 

-27- 


as  much  as  possible,  a  bevel  toed  shoe  is  also  good,  keep  the 
heels  middling  high,  and  the  toes  cut  down  low  and  short- 
ened up.  These  shoes  are  not  very  good  for  fast  work, 
as  they  will  slip  back  too  much  on  leaving  the  ground,  which 
retards  speed  but  will  help  to  make  speed  in  lots  of  slow 
ones  that  require  action. 

XXIV.     SPEEDY  CUTTING. 

A  horse  that  is  taking  his  work  and  is  "speed  cutting" 
and  still  continues  to  be  a  good  actor  must  be  game.  -Speed 
cutting  begins  at  the  coronet  or  a  little  higher  up  and  con- 
tinues up  the  pastern  mostly  on  the  inside  of  leg  to  the 
top  of  ankle  and  even  above  that.  There  are  three  things 
that  cause  this,  the  most  prominent  one  to  look  for,  is  the 
inside  of  the  hind  feet  are  a  lot  higher  than  the  outside; 
seven  times  out  of  ten  the  outside  of  front  feet  will  be 
found  longer  or  higher  than  the  inside.  The  horse  may  or 
may  not  be  carrying  the  proper  weight.  If  he  is  pulling  a 
part  of  a  ton  on  the  bit  to  hold  him  together,  he  is  not 
properly  balanced  with  weight.  The  hitting  is  mostly  done 
with  the  outside  toe  of  the  front  shoe.  If  you  can  find 
some  one  who  can  level  and  balance  these  feet  on  the  legs 
there  will  be  a  big  change  in  the  action. 

Excessive  front,  and  not  enough  of  hind,  action  will 
•cause  speed  cutting.  Excessive  hock  and  stifle  action  and 
not  enough  action  in  front  will  also  cause  it.  When  the 
action  is  excessive,  decrease  it  by  lowering  the  quarters  and 
heels  and  by  shoeing  very  light,  if  the  action  of  the  other 
end  needs  to  be  increased,  shorten  the  toes  and  add  weight, 
do  not  be  afraid,  four  to  five  ounces  will  be  better  to  experi- 
ment with  than  one  or  two.  After  the  horse  gains  confi- 
dence he  may  not  need  any  extra  weight.  The  most  im- 
portant thing  will  be  to  find  some  one  who  can  fix  the  feet, 
and  the  feet  will  be  found  as  I  have  stated  above.  There 
are  very  few  who  are  good  judges  of  a  balanced  foot.     It 

-28-      • 


takes  an  expert  to  detect  the  high  and  low  side  of  a  foot. 
Horses  that  wing  into  their  knees  and  those  that  paddle 
away  from  their  knees,  and  line  trotters,  contract  this 
fault  because  of  an  improperly  prepared  foot  to  control 
the  faulty  line  of  action  and  at  times  not  carrying  the 
proper  amount  of  weight  front  and  hind  to  balance  the 
action  so  that  the  hind  action  will  work  in  harmony  with 
the  front. 

If  the  horse  wings  in  toward  his  knees  with  one  or 
both  front  feet  fix  the  front  feet  according  to  the  directions 
in  this  book  in  the  chapter  on  winging  in  or  knee  hitting. 
If  the  horse  paddles  out  away  from  his  knees,  I  refer  you 
to  the,  chapter  on  Paddling  to  prepare  his  feet  by,  and  use 
the  shoes  therein  prescribed.  If  the  front  action  is  exces- 
sive and  lofty  you  must  lower  the  quarters  and  heels  to 
give  him  a  longer  leverage  to  leave  the  ground  from,  and 
shoe  with  a  light  shoe,  and  balance  him  with  a  toe  weight 
for  extension,  and  have  the  feet  the  same  length  and  angle. 

To  prepare  the  feet  on  a  speedy  cutter,  rasp  down  or 
lower  the  inside  of  foot  from  centre  of  toe  back  to  inside 
heel  to  a  level  or  a  fraction  lower  than  the  outside  of  the 
foot,  have  the  toes  of  both  feet  the  same  length,  and  at  the 
angle  he  shows  the  most  speed  with.  Shoe  with  a  side- 
weight  shoe,  the  heavy  side  of  shoe  on  the  outside  of  foot 
and  calked  to  prevent  slipping. 

To  shorten  the  hind  stride  use  a  light  shoe,  raise  the 
heels  and  shorten  the  toes  of  the  hind  feet  as  much  as  they 
will  stand.  To  lengthen  the  stride  of  the  hind  feet,  lower 
the  quarters  and  heels  to  a  longer  angle  to  leave  the  ground 
from,  and  add  several  ounces  more  weight  than  the  horse 
has  been  carrying  to  each  shoe;  the  inside  edges  of  hind 
shoes  from  the  toe  back  to  quarters  should  be  beveled  off. 
The  edges  of  front  shoes  should  be  beveled  off  on  both 
outside~and  inside. 

-29- 


XXV.     A  BAD  SPEEDY  CUTTER. 

The  late  Freeman  M.  Dodge  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  trainer 
and  driver,  had  a  bay  mare  by  the  name  of  "Tillie  Wilkes" 
that  was  speedy  cutting  so  bad  that  he  was  not  able  to  work 
her,  and  he  came  to  me  to  find  out  if  I  could  stop  her  from 
speedy  cutting.  I  told  him  I  could  not  tell  until  I  saw  her 
driven.  He  brought  her  over  and  drove  her  down  the 
stretch  at  a  three  minute  gait.  This  mare  had  a  sore  spot 
on  the  lower  inside  of -one  hind  ankle  that  was  raw,  the  size 
of  a  silver  dollar  and  when  she  began  touching  this  spot, 
speedy  cutting,  she  would  jump  and  begin  running.  After 
seeing  this  mare  driven  I  found  she  had  excessive  action 
in  front  and  very  lofty,  and  her  hind  action  mostly  all 
stifle  action  and  very  little  hock  action  and  her  feet  were 
in  bad  shape.  She  was  driven  over  the  next  day  to  be  shod 
and  I  had  her  shoes  ready  when  she  arrived.  I  fixed  this 
mare's  front  feet  by  lowering  her  quarters  and  heels  as 
much  as  nature  would  allow  me,  and  left  all  the  toe  possible. 
This  gave  her  a  longer  leverage  to  leave  the  ground  from, 
which  kept  her  from  breaking  over  so  quick,  and  it  reduced 
her  lofty  knee  action  and  created  more  extension.  I  took 
off  a  twelve-ounce  shoe  from  each  of  her  front  feet,  and 
applied  a  four-ounce  aluminum  shoe. 

Fixing  her  hind  feet  and  shoeing  them  was  the  most 
important.  I  shortened  the  toes  and  lowered  the  inside  of 
each  hind  foot  until  the  inside  of  them  was  as  low  as  the 
outside  or  a  shade  lower  if  anything.  I  fitted  a  pair  of 
heavy  side-weight  shoes,  the  heavy  side  of  the  shoes  on  the 
outside  of  the  hind  feet,  each  hind  shoe  weighed  about 
eleven  ounces  with  heel  calks.  This  job  stopped  all  the 
speedy  cutting  and  she  trotted  quarters  in  31  seconds  shortly 
after,  and  was  sold  to  Mr.  Shults  for  $750.00. 

-  30- 


XXVI.     GAITING   COLTS. 

Sometimes  you  will  find  a  colt  that  has  not  much  knee, 
hock  or  stifle  action  and  not  much  speed,  and  in  such  cases, 
to  remedy  the  defect,  after  the  feet  have  been  leveled  the 
hind  feet  a  shade  shorter  than  the  front,  I  would  recom- 
mend a  heavy  rolling  toe  shoe  in  front,  eight,  nine  or  ten 
ounces  and  a  little  lighter  one  behind,  two  or  three  ounces 
lighter.  If  the  foot  is  large  and  the  colt  is  strong,  eleven 
ounces  in  front  to  begin  with.  Now  as  the  action  increases, 
decrease  the  weight.  When  the  colt  begins  to  make  speed 
he  or  she  will  not  need  a  rolling  toe  shoe  in  front,  a  plain 
shoe  is  better,  one  that  will  not  slip  back  on  leaving  the 
ground.  As  the  colt  begins  to  make  speed  the  action  of  the 
legs  needs  watching  because  sometimes  they  will  begin  to 
show  a  faulty  line  of  action. 

If  they  begin  to  get  faulty  they  are  liable  to  begin 
winging  in  or  paddling  out,  and  when  shod  again  the  feet 
can  be  fixed  to  prevent  this  way  of  going  at  speed.  The 
most  important  thing  is  fixing  their  feet  to  prevent  a  faulty 
line  of  action  for  if  the  feet  are  not  kept  level  they  will 
begin  getting  rough  gaited  and  unsteady.  One  important 
thing  in  fixing  feet  on  yearlings  to  be  shod  and  worked 
for  speed  is  to  keep  the  quarters  and  heels  of  front  feet 
as  low  as  possible,  it  affords  comfort  in  landing  and  in- 
creases extension  without  carrying  so  much  weight.  Colts 
that  have  a  lot  of  action  at  both  ends,  hind  and  front,  need 
very  light  shoes  all  round,  you  can  find  out  the  proper  bal- 
ance with  a  toe  weight. 

To  increase  extension,  lower  the  quarters  and  heels  and 
apply  toe  weights  instead  of  useing  so  much  in  the  shoe. 
The  colt  should  carry  a  natural  head,  not  too  high  and  not 
too  low,  the  lower  the  better  if  he  is  inclined  to  mix.  If 
your  colt  is  short  and  choppy  gaited  in  his  hind  action  lower 
the  quarters  and  heels  of  hind  feet  and  shoe  with  a  heavy 
toeweight  plain  shoe  and  extend  the  shoe  out  one-quarter 

-31- 


of  an  inch  or  more  in  front  of  toe  of  hind  foot.  When  the 
colt  begins  to  make  speed  decrease  the  weight  of  shoe  of 
hind  feet.  Some  youngsters  require  more  weight  behind 
than  in  front  to  equalize  action  so  as  to  work  harmoniously 
front  and  rear. 

If  you  have  a  mixed-gaited  colt  and  you  want  to  make 
a  trotter  out  of  him  or  her,  keep  plenty  of  foot  on  both  hind 
and  front  feet,  especially  at  the  toes.  When  fixing  the  feet 
to  be  shod  cut  or  rasp  the  quarters  and  heels  of  both  front 
and  hind  feet  as  low  as  possible,  keep  plenty  of  toe  on 
front  and  hind  feet.  Usually  you  will  find  that  the  front 
feet  have  the  longest  angle  to  leave  the  ground  from,  but 
by  lowering  the  quarters  and  heels  of  hind  feet  to  get  them 
as  near  as  you  can  to  the  same  angle  of  the  front  feet,  the 
more  you  will  be  confining  the  gait  to  a  pure  trot,  and  there 
will  be  less  danger  of  singlefooting  or  pacing. 

I  want  my  readers  to  distinctly  understand  that  there 
is  a  set  of  pacing  feet  for  a  pacer  and  a  set  of  trotting  feet 
for  a  trotter,  especially  at  the  time  when  you  are  going  to 
convert  a  trotter  to  the  pace  or  a  pacer  to  the  trot.  That, 
however,  will  be  explained  later  in  this  book.  If  your  trot- 
ting colt  becomes  mixed  gaited  or  goes  into  a  single  foot  or 
pace,  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to  lower  the  quarters  and  heels 
of  hind  feet  as  much  as  possible,  keep  all  the  toe  on  him 
you  can  and  shoe  with  a  light  shoe  with  toe  and  heel  calks. 
The  front  feet  should  be  lowered  in  the  same  manner  and 
add  a  few  ounces  more  weight  to  front  shoes  and  allow 
your  colt  to  be  driven  as  low  headed  as  is  comfortable. 

When  you  try  this  remedy  for  a  mixed  gaited  colt  or 
horse  you  will  be  surprised  why  you  have  not  been  able  to 
find  it  out  years  ago. 

The  pacing  youngster  with  not  much  of  any  kind  of 
action  at  either  end,  needs  to  go  in  short  toes  and  heavy 
shoes  all  around  and  if  the  toes  of  shoes  are  beveled  or 
rolled  it  will  be  very  good  the  first  time  shod.     After  your 

-32- 


HORSE-SHOE  STACK— ALLEN   FARM,  1916. 
W.  J.  Moore 


pacing  colt  begins  to  make  speed,  shoe  to  prevent  slipping 

at  both  ends,  with  heel  and  toe  calks  on  hind  shoes.  As  a 
rule  they  go  high  headed,  it  seems  to  suit  the  majority  of 
pacers. 

If  your  pacer  begins  to  crossfire  lower  the  inside  of 
hind  feet  but  if  you  cannot  lower  the  feet  on  the  inside 
raise  the  outside  with  the  thickness  of  the  shoe,  thick  on 
outside  and  thin  on  inside.  If  you  can  lower  the  inside  of 
hind  feet  low  enough,  a  plain  shoe  will  do  with  calks.  The 
best  shoe  for  a  cross-firing  pacer  is  a  heavy  sideweight 
shoe,  thin  and  rounded  off  on  the  inside  toe.  You  do  not 
need  any  projections  on  this  shoe,  heel  or  toe,  if  the  foot 
is  properly  prepared  to  widen  action.  If  your  colt  gets  to 
winging  to  his  knees,  lower  the  outside  of  front  feet  from 
centre  of  toes  to  heel  on  outside.  If  your  colt  begins  to  pad- 
dle with  one  front  leg  or  the  other,  lower  the  inside  of  the 
foot  or  feet  as  much  as  they  will  stand,  this  will  leave  the 
outside  toe  the  longest  to  leave  the  ground  from,  which, 
when  at  speed,  will  prevent  a  lot  of  paddling.  The  lighter 
the  shoes  on  a  paddler  the  better,  but  if  he  has  to  carry 
some  weight  in  his  shoes  to  balance  action,  put  all  the 
weight  in  the  outside  of  his  shoes.  If  you  use  a  toe  weight, 
attach  it  near  to  the  outside  toe  for  better  results.  Pad- 
dling is  caused  by  the  contraction  of  muscles  on  one  side  of 
the  leg,  the  same  as  winging  in,  and  not  always  by  bad 
shoeing,  the  main  thing  is  foot  fixing. 

Some  say  there  is  nothing  under  the  sun  perfect.  Foals 
developing  in  the  womb  of  their  dam  sometimes  will  be  in 
a  cramped  position,  which  contracts  those  muscles  or  liga- 
ments that  cause  winging  in  or  paddling  out.  As  some  of 
the  yearlings  and  weanlings  show  this  faulty  line  of  action 
before  ever  being  shod.  I  have  seen  yearlings  that  were 
knee-knockers  to  begin  with  and  you  would  think  confirmed 
ones  and  after  one,  two  or  three  shoeings  you  could  not 
hear  them  knock  their  boots  on  the  turns,  and  they  would 

-33- 


later  develop  into  fast  trotters  and  win  races  or  take  fast 
records  at  two  and  three  years  old. 

At  the  Allen  Farm,  where  I  have  been  located  for  a 
great  many  years,  I  have  seen  results  obtained  by  foot  fixing 
and  shoeing  that  satisfied  me  that  there  were  secrets  hidden 
from  most  of  the  public  in  the  art  or  science  of  foot  fixing 
and  balancing  faulty  action,  and  from  my  experience  and 
the  results  obtained,  I  felt  that  the  public  was  entitled  to 
my  knowledge  so  gained.  I  have  seen  yearlings  step  eighths 
of  a  mile  from  15^4  to  17  and  18  seconds,  and  many  of 
them.  I  have  seen  a  yearling  step  the  last  sixteenth  of  an 
eighth  in  seven  seconds,  a  1  :52  gait,  on  this  half-mile 
track  which  should  go  a  second  faster  on  a  mile  track. 

Now  if  the  foot  fixing  and  shoeing  that  I  have  ex- 
plained in  this  book  and  have  been  practising  for  years  is 
not  the  nearest  approach  to  the  proper  and  correct  way  of 
balancing  the  action  of  the  trotter  and  pacer,  why  has 
Bingara  become  the  champion  fourteen-year-old  sire  of 
2:30  peformers,  located  as  he  is  in  this  cold  climate  and 
far  away  from  the  section  where  are  the  greatest  number 
of  producing  dams?  Mares  by  Kremlin  2:07^4,  the  cham- 
pion living  brood  mare  sire  of  the  world,  have  produced 
wonderful  results.  Through  these  channels  came  Baden 
2:05)4,  a  trotting  race  horse  that  raced  on  both  half-mile 
tracks  and  mile  tracks  and  was  badly  handicapped  in  many 
of  his  races  by  being  scored  ten,  twelve,  fifteen,  and  as 
many  as  seventeen  times  before  getting  the  word.  This 
scoring  was  not  all  done  by  one  driver  or  one  horse,  but  by 
different  drivers  and  different  horses  trying  to  break  the 
horse's  heart  repeatedly,  and  when  they  could  not  rupture 
his  legs,  unhinge  his  back,  rattle  his  thinking  box  or  break 
his  heart,  Mr.  Geers  and  Mr.  Cox,  the  great  race  drivers, 
said  that  Baden  2:05)4  was  the  greatest  race  horse  ever 
seen.  In  all  my  experience  with  the  produce  of  Bingara 
I  have  never  seen  one  yet  that  wanted  to  pace  if  looked 

-34- 


after  in  his  early  education.  I  know  him  to  get  trotters 
from  pacing  mares,  and  nothing  but  trotters  from  all  kinds 
of  mares,  his  power  to  transmit  the  trotting  gait  to  his  pro- 
duce is  something  wonderful,  and  his  only  pacers  arc  those 
that  were  forced  by  the  unsportsmanlike  use  of  hopples. 

XXVII.     NEGLECTED  HIND  FEET. 

The  hind  feet  on  both  trotters  and  pacers  are  the 
worst  neglected  when  receiving  their  preparation  in  train- 
ing and  racing.  Is  your  trotter  or  pacer  going  rough  gaited 
with  his  hind  legs?  Is  your  trotter  hitting  his  coronets,  is 
he  speedy  cutting,  is  he  hitting  his  shins  or  hocks  ?  Is  your 
pacer  hitting  his  front  shoes,  or  cross-firing?  All  this  un- 
balanced action  comes  from  an  unbalanced,  unprepared,  and 
unweighted  foot,  most  times — nearly  nine  out  of  ten — from 
cutting  the  outside  of  hind  foot  too  low  from  center  of 
toe  back  to  outside  heel  leaving  the  inside  the  highest,  which 
wall  control  the  line  of  action  of  the  leg  after  the  foot 
leaves  the  ground. 

Lots  of  people  do  not  know  this  and  lots  of  horsemen 
do  not  know  this  until  they  get  into  trouble  and  commence 
experimenting  with  some  fandangle  shoes,  long  heels  on 
one  side  and  short  heels  on  the  opposite  side,  or  some 
projection  on  some  part  of  shoes  that  creates  strain  and 
friction  trying  to  overcome  a  badly  fixed  foot  or  feet.  If 
your  trotter  or  pacer  is  doing  any  of  the  above  stunts,  the 
insides  of  his  hind  foot  or  feet  are  a  lot  too  high  for  the 
outside.  Cut  the  inside  of  hind  feet  down  as  low  as  they 
will  stand,  low  enough  to  change  the  angle  of  the  feet,  to 
make  the  feet  or  angle  longer  to  leave  the  ground  from.  If 
his  toes  are  the  right  length  do  not  touch  them. 

The  best  shoe  for  your  trotter  in  this  case  is  a  side- 
weight  shoe,  a  little  heavier  than  he  has  been  carrying — 
two  or  three  ounces  heavier.     The  best  shoe  for  the  pacer 

-35- 


is  a  sideweight,  same  as  above  and  it  can  be  an  ounce 
heavier  than  above,  say  four  ounces  heavier  than  he  had 
been  carrying.  After  your  trotter  or  pacer  becomes  purer 
gaited  you  can  dispense  with  this  extra  weight.  Shoe  light 
and  as  long  as  the  foot  or  feet  are  kept  level  and  at  the 
right  poise  and  angle  you  will  not  have  any  trouble.  I  do 
not  recommend  shoes  with  a  long  heel  on  one  side  and  a 
short  one  on  an  opposite  side  on  a  correctly  or  properly 
fixed  foot,  or  feet,  for  fast  work  or  racing,  because  such 
shoes  create  undue  friction  at  speed.  When  a  hind  leg  is 
extended  and  foot  or  feet  are  properly  fixed  and  balanced 
on  the  leg,  both  heels  of  the  foot  should  strike  the  ground 
at  the  same  time.  If  the  heel  on  one  side  of  shoe  is  three- 
quarter  of  an  inch  longer,  or  half-inch  longer,  this  long  heel 
hits  the  ground  first,  before  the  opposite  heel  hits,  which 
is  unnatural  and  disagreeable  to  the  bones  of  the  feet,  that 
work  in  sockets.  It  has  the  tendency  to  shift  the  bearing 
of  the  bones  in  their  sockets  on  landing  and  leaving  the 
ground,  and  gives  extra  work  to  the  ligaments  that  hold  the 
bones  in  their  sockets.  On  slow  going  horses  this  long 
outside  heel  does  not  affect  them  as  severely  as  on  horses 
that  are  working  fast  or  racing.  You  must  remember  when 
horses  are  going  at  a  fast  pace  they  land  on  their  heels  as  a 
rule  with  their  toes  elevated  away  from  the  ground.  This 
is  one  of  the  main  reasons  why  the  heels  of  hind  shoes 
should  be  the  same  length  on  both  sides  at  speed  or  taking 
fast  work.  There  are  lots  of  horses  that  would  have  been 
faster  and  better  race  horses  if  their  hind  feet  and  action 
had  been  properly  balanced  to  work  harmoniously  with 
one  another.  The  speed  of  a  horse  depends  largely  on  the 
propelling  power  of  the  hind  quarters.  The  muscles  of  the 
thigh,  stifle  and  whirlbone  need  looking  after  in  their  early 
preparation  to  keep  the  soreness  out  of  them  until  they  be- 
come hardened.  Do  not  work  your  horse  on  a  slippery 
track,  wait  a  day  or  you  may  be  sorry,  if  he  is  not  eating 
skip  a  workout,  it  will  suit  the  horse. 

-36- 


XXVIII.     KNEE  ACTION'   WITHOUT 
EXTENSION. 

Many  horses  have  plenty  of  knee  action  and  no  extru- 
sion. This  horse  is  carrying  weight  enough,  and  foot  is 
prepared  to  make  him  knee  up,  but  is  unbalanced  both  by 
the  weight  application  and  foot  fixing  to  develop  the  proper 
extension.  The  feet  of  a  horse  gaited  in  this  manner  need 
the  quarters  and  heels  of  front  feet  lowered  as  low  as 
safety  will  permit,  do  not  touch  the  toes  of  front  feet, 
place  the  front  feet  at  as  long  an  angle  to  leave  the  ground 
from  as  possible,  reduce  the  weight  of  the  front  shoes  and 
add  it  to  the  feet  in  a  toe  weight,  and  pull  his  head  down 
some  if  you  have  to  use  a  standing  martingale  and  let  him 
come  along  gradually. 

Too  much  knee  action  is  lost  motion  and  tiresome.  I 
found  that  out  for  myself  walking  through  the  deep  snows 
that  we  have  up  here  in  the  Berkshire  Hills.  Too  much 
folding  of  the  knees  causes  elbow  hitting,  and  at  times 
when  they  do  not  reach  their  elbow  some  of  them  will  hit 
on  the  back  of  their  arm.  One  of  the  worst  speedy  cutters 
I  ever  saw  was  gaited  in  front  in  this  manner.  I  decreased 
the  knee  and  folding  action,  changed  the  hind  feet,  which 
were  very  high  on  inside,  lowered  them  and  shod  with  heavy 
outside  weight  shoe  and  she  trotted  clean  and  pure,  quarters 
in  31  seconds  in  May.  She  had  one  sore  on  her  as  large 
as  a  silver  dollar  from  hitting,  and  when  she  began  hitting 
she  would  try  and  run  away. 

XXIX.     HORSES  THAT  GET  AWAY  SLOW, 
BUT   FINISH   FAST. 

In  these  cases  I  feel  sorry  for  the  horse  also  for  the 
driver.  The  horse  knows  he  is  handicapped,  and  the  driver 
does  not  want  to  take  any  desperate  chances  of  getting  shut 
out  by  trying  to  get  away  with  the  field  of  starters,  anyhow 

-37- 


I  will  say,  the  horse  is  unbalanced  to  get  away,  got  a  lot  of 
speed  but  can  not  find  it  when  it  is  needed.  This  horse 
needs  assistance  in  foot  balancing  and  weighting.  The 
front  action  on  this  kind  of  a  horse  needs  to  be  increased 
more  for  extension  than  anything  else,  increase  his  ex- 
tension and  everything  else  will  take  care  of  itself. 

To  help  this  horse  to  get  away,  I  would  change  the 
angle  of  his  front  feet,  make  the  angle  longer  to  leave  the 
ground  from.  If  the  angle  of  his  front  feet  is  at  54  or  55 
degrees  change  it  to  50  or  51,  if  it  is  at  52  or  53  degrees 
change  it  to  48  or  49  degrees,  add  three  or  four  ounces 
more  weight  to  his  front  shoes  and  carry  the  same  toe 
weight  that  he  has  been  carrying.  In  fixing  his  front  feet 
do  not  touch  or  take  anything  off  his  toes,  shoe  to  prevent 
slipping,  especially  the  hind  feet.  If  this  horse  has  been 
carrying  a  light  shoe  in  front- — seven,  eight  or  nine  ounces — 
it  will  require  not  less  than  four  or  five  ounces  more 
weight  to  get  away  with  his  field.  If  this  four  or  five 
ounces  balances  him  to  get  away  with  his  field,  he  will  not 
pull  you  hard  to  hold  him  together.  If  this  horse  is  not 
inclined  to  mix,  I  would  have  the  toes  of  hind  feet  an  eighth 
or  quarter  inch  shorter  than  those  of  the  front  feet  and  at 
an  angle  of  about  54  or  55  degrees,  but  if  he  is  inclined 
to  shift  or  mix  into  a  single  foot,  have  the  hind  feet  as 
near  the  same  length  and  angle  as  the  front  feet  as  possible, 
the  nearer  the  better.  If  it  takes  two  or  three  ounces  more 
weight  to  balance  faulty  action,  use  it,  put  it  on  his  feet,  if 
you  don't  you  will  wear  him  out  pulling  on  him,  you  will 
make  him  muscle-sore  propelling  against  your  strong  arms, 
pulling  100  or  150  pounds  on  the  bit.  It  creates  a  terrible 
strain  going  the  last  quarter  of  a  fast  mile,  especially  on 
youngsters,  and  some  trainers  wonder  why  some  of  their 
pupils  don't  go  on  and  develop  speed,  and  wonder  why 
some  of  them  become  so  tired  after  passing  the  three- 
quarter  pole.     Xo  matter  how  royally  bred  they  are,  they 

-38-    . 


need  to  be  properly  balanced  to  go  the  distance  on  as  light 
a  pull  on  the  bit  as  possible.  If  you  depend  on  balancing 
them  by  holding  them  together  by  pulling  against  their  jaws 
you  are  a  back  number  for  a  youngster  or  aged  horse  is  not 
doing  his  work  in  comfort  and  with  ease  going  against  a 
heavy  pull  on  the  bit.  There  is  nothing  that  will  wear  out 
a  yearling,  two-year-old  or  three-year-old  quicker  than  hard 
pulling  against  the  bit,  for  it  over-taxes  the  muscles  of  the 
propelling  power  caused  by  being  unbalanced.  Their  pro- 
pelling muscles  will  stand  it  for  a  while,  but  not  for  long. 
If  you  can  get  your  colt  or  horse  properly  balanced  he 
will  not  pull  you,  he  would  rather  go  at  speed  in  com- 
fort and  ease  to  himself  than  to  get  unhinged  in  the 
back  propelling  against  a  heavy  pull  on  the  lines.  The 
trainers  that  can  detect  or  locate  faulty  action  and  know 
what  to  do  to  remedy  the  same  are  the  ones  that  make 
a  success  of  developing,  conditioning  and  driving  in  races. 
It  takes  judgment,  a  good  eye  and  ear  to  detect  faulty 
action.  It  takes  an  expert  to  detect  a  badly  fixed  foot 
that  was  intended  to  help  the  line  of  action. 

XXX.     TO  CONVERT  A  PACER  TO  TROT. 

Begin  by  fixing  his  feet,  cut  or  rasp  the  quarters  and 
heels  of  all  four  feet  down  as  low  as  possible  without  get- 
ting any  sole  pressure  against  the  shoes  that  are  fitted. 
Have  the  length  of  toes  as  near  alike  as  the  case  will  permit, 
I  mean  by  not  taking  anything  off  the  toes  of  front  feet  or 
hind  feet,  supposing  the  toes  are  near  alike,  he  will  need  all 
the  toe  possible  to  convert  him  to  the  trot  from  the  pace. 
Shoe  front  feet  with  a  heavy  toe  weight  shoe,  it  may  take 
fifteen  or  seventeen  ounces.  If  you  have  to  use  any  toe 
weight  while  going  slow  it  is  best  to  weld  spur  on  toe  of 
shoe  and  use  a  toe  weight  fitted  to  the  spur.  It  is  best  in 
his  case,  in  order  to  convert  the  pacer  to  trot,  to  have  a 

-39- 


grab  on  the  front  shoes.  Shoe  the  hind  feet  with  a  light 
shoe  with  toe  and  heel  calk,  drive  him  as  low  headed  as 
possible  even  if  you  have  to  use  a  standing  martingale, 
bring  him  along  slow,  by  degrees,  for  as  it  effects  a  change 
of  muscles  it  is  something  new  to  the  horse  and  the  more 
time  you  take  in  bringing  along  trotting,  the  more  you  will 
be  perfecting  the  gait.  Don't  hurry  matters.  After  a  few 
weeks  he  will  have  more  growth  of  foot  and  can  lower  his 
quarters  and  heels  a  little  more  giving  his  feet  a  longer 
angle  to  leave  the  ground  from.  In  converting  a  pacer  to 
trot,  a  four-inch  toe  is  not  too  long  on  some  horses,  but  on 
yearlings  and  two-year-olds  their  feet  will  be  shorter,  but 
the  closer  you  get  the  angle  of  front  and  hind  feet  to  50 
or  51  degrees  with  same  length  of  toes  hind  and  front,  the 
better,  to  confine  him  to  the  trot,  and  keep  him  trotting.  In 
some  cases  the  angle  needs  to  be  48  or  49  degrees  in  front, 
and  as  near  to  that  as  you  can  get  the  hind  feet. 

XXXI.  CONVERTING  A  TROTTER  TO 
THE  PACE. 

Shorten  and  lower  the  toes  of  all  four  feet,  do  not 
touch  the  quarters  or  heels  of  front  or  hind  feet.  The 
weight  of  the  shoes  will  vary  on  different  horses.  On  a 
youngster  I  would  put  a  five  or  six-ounce  concaved  shoe  in 
front,  and  about  nine  or  ten  ounces  behind,  with  toe  and 
heel  calk.  On  an  older  horse  the  weight  at  both  front  and 
hind  can  be  correspondingly  heavier,  about  eight  ounces 
front  and  eleven  or  twelve  ounces,  with  heel  and  toe  calks 
behind.  Now  when  hitched  ready  to  go  for  the  first  lesson, 
check  the  head  as  high  as  the  horse  or  colt  can  carry  it 
without  causing  pain  and  misery  to  the  neck.  If  he  paces 
any,  a  half  mile  up  to  a  mile  and  a  half  is  enough  for  the 
first  three  or  four  lessons.  If  he  acts  good  do  not  let  him 
go  too  fast  for  the  first  week  or  ten  days,  you  must  take 
two  or  three  weeks  before  asking  him  to  step.     The  angle 

-40- 


of  the  front  feet  should  be  about  55  degrees  and  the  angle 
of  the  hind  feet  should  be  about  59  degrees. 

Some  horses  that  go  into  a  singlefoot  or  strike  a  pace 
occasionally  can  be  easily  converted  to  the  pace  by  shoeing 
light  in  front  and  heavier  behind,  from  three  to  five  ounces 
more  weight  in  each  hind  shoe  than  he  is  carrying  in  his 
front  shoes.  If  he  does  not  take  to  the  pace  readily  add 
more  weight  to  hind  shoes,  and  bevel  or  roll  the  toes  of 
shoes,  and  check  head  higher.  You  need  a  short  natural 
foot  all  around  to  convert  to  the  pace.  The  angle  of  the 
feet  will  vary  according  to  their  pasterns.  If  the  horse  has 
a  long  oblique  pastern,  shorten  the  toes  hind  and  front  as 
much  as  they  will  allow  to  be  safe,  and  do  not  touch  the 
heels. 

I  used  this  method  of  converting  Joe  Patchen  II  from 
the  trot  to  the  pace,  and  many  others.  They  could  not 
make  him  strike  a  pace  and  after  fixing  his  feet  and  shoeing 
him  he  went  out  on  the  track  and  paced  an  eighth  of  a  mile 
in  eighteen  seconds  after  having  been  driven  at  the  trot 
for  over  a  year. 

XXXII.  CONTRACTED  HEELS. 
To  expand  a  contracted  foot  or  quarter  the  first  thing 
to  do  is  to  get  the  foot  soft  by  poulticing  or  stuffing  with 
"Whiterock"  for  a  couple  of  nights.  Use  hoof  expanders 
that  are  stronger  than  the  hoof,  some  feet  are  so  strong  and 
stiff  at  the  quarters  that  the  foot  has  to  be  weakened  be- 
tween the  bars  and  frog  so  that  the  expanders  will  expand 
it.  If  you  want  the  inside  quarter  expanded  leave  the  last 
two  heel  nails  out  of  the  inside  of  shoe,  put  a  toe  clip  on 
shoe  and  a  clip  back  at  the  outside  heel  and  do  just  the 
reverse  to  expand  an  outside  quarter.  In  this  way  you 
will  be  getting  all  the  expansion  on  the  contracted  quarter. 
If  this  shoe  is  fitted  so  that  the  expander  can  be  placed  in 

-41- 


the  foot  after  the  shoe  has  been  nailed  on,  the  contracted 
quarter  will  be  expanded  oyer  a  quarter  of  an  inch  before 
the  shoe  is  clinched  up.  Nails  should  not  be  used  back 
towards  the  heels  of  a  contracted  foot  that  is  to  be  ex- 
panded. When  the  foot  expands  wider  than  the  shoe,  reset 
shoes  and  renew  the  position  of  expander  to  act  stronger. 
The  softer  you  keep  the  feet  the  faster  they  will  spread,  do 
not  let  them  get  dry  and  hard.  The  expansion  you  get  in 
the  foot  of  a  yearling  or  a  two  or  three-year-old  can  be 
kept  after  the  expander  has  been  discarded  by  not  allowing 
the  heels  to  be  kept  too  high  for  too  long  a  time.  But  in 
aged  horses  that  have  had  contracted  feet  or  quarters  for 
years  and  have  become  set,  you  can  expand  the  feet  or 
quarters,  and  when  you  stop  using  the  expanders  the  heels 
and  quarters  will  contract  right  back  to  where  they  were 
before,  in  the  majority  of  cases.  In  cases  of  this  kind  in 
aged  horses  after  the  feet  have  been  expanded  the  quarters 
should  be  cut  down  low  and  the  coronets  blistered  on  both 
inside  and  outside  quarters. 

There  are  lots  of  horses  with  contracted  heels  and  the 
heels  become  so  high  from  the  coronet  to  the  shoe  bearing 
surface  and  have  stayed  this  way  for  such  a  length  of  time 
that  they  cannot  be  cut  down  without  hurting  or  injuring 
the  horse,  until  after  the  feet  have  been  expanded.  The 
sensitive  part  of  the  foot  gets  a  long  ways  down  from  the 
coronet  in  a  contracted  foot,  and  to  cut  or  lower  the  quar- 
ters and  heels  to  place  the  foot  at  a  proper  angle,  it  cannot 
be  done  until  the  foot  is  expanded.  The  more  you  expand 
the  foot  the  lower  you  can  cut  or  rasp  down  the  heels.  The 
more  you  expand  the  heels  the  higher  up  you  are  driving 
the  sensitive  interior  of  the  foot  at  the  quarters.  In  many 
aged  horses  after  the  feet  are  expanded  it  will  be  well  to 
continue  the  use  of  expanders,  to  prevent  contraction,  for 
a  period  of  six  or  twelve  months. 

-42- 


XXXIII.     CAUSE  OF  CONTRACTED   HEELS. 

A  disease  called  Thrush,  located  in  and  about  the  frog 
is  sure  to  contract  the  heels  of  a  foot,  if  not  cured  quickly. 
A  foot  troubled  with  thrush  should  be  cured  when  first  dis- 
covered, if  not  the  frog  keeps  perishing  away  until  there 
is  not  enough  of  it  there  to  hold  or  keep  the  heels  from 
contracting.  Another  cause  is  allowing  feet  to  grow  too 
high  at  the  heels  and  letting  them  remain  too  high  for  too 
long  a  time.  When  the  heels  get  too  high  the  frog  is  too 
far  away  from  the  ground  to  get  any  expansion,  or  to  pre- 
vent contraction.  The  closer  the  frog  is  kept  to  the  ground 
on  a  horse  running  in  pasture  or  shod  and  working,  all  the 
better.  Stock  running  in  pasture,  young  or  old,  should  have 
their  feet  rasped  down  regularly  every  five  or  six  weeks 
at  the  longest.  Some  may  need  it  oftener  than  that.  This 
fixing  of  feet  on  stock  running  out,  assists  expansion  and 
prevents  contraction.  If  the  feet  are  allowed  to  grow  too 
long  on  stock  running  in  pasture  the  position  the  animal 
has  to  stand  in  while  grazing,  with  one  leg  out  in  front  of 
the  other  will  contract  or  curl  the  inside  quarter  of  each 
front  foot,  and  wing  out  the  outside  quarter.  Shoes  staving 
on  too  long,  and  horses  kept  on  dry,  hard  floors  where 
they  do  not  get  any  moisture,  will  cause  contraction.  The 
feet  of  horses  kept  on  dry  hard  floors  should  be  stufTed  at 
least  every  other  night  with  clay,  or  whiterock,  or  some- 
thing of  a  moistening  nature.  Contraction  is  the  main 
cause  of  both  quartercracks  and  corns.  To  cure  Thrush, 
cleanse  the  frog  thoroughly,  then  a  few  applications  of  dry 
powdered  calomel  to  the  frog  will  dry  the  disease  up  and 
leave  the   frog  healthy. 

XXXIV.     CORNS. 
A    live,    painful    corn    is    caused    by    different    things. 
High  contracted  heels  will  cause  corns  as  well  as  short  ones. 
Shoeing  and  leaving  the  shoes  on  too  long,  and  undue  con- 

-43- 


cussion  will  cause  corns.  The  majority  of  cases  of  corns 
will  be  found  in  contracted  feet.  I  find  the  most  success- 
ful way  to  treat  corns  is  to  get  the  foot  or  feet  soft  and 
keep  them  soft.  Shoe  with  a  bar  shoe,  lower  the  heels  so 
as  you  can  get  all  the  frog  pressure  possible  on  the  bar  of 
the  shoe,  after  the  shoe  has  been  fitted,  and  before  nailing 
to  the  foot,  cut  the  heel  bearing  away  from  the  shoe  where 
the  corn  is  located,  an  inch  of  the  bearing  surface  ahead 
of  the  corn  and  half  an  inch  or  more  away  from  the  shoe 
to  break  the  jar  and  reduce  the  concussion.  If  foot  is  con- 
tracted use  an  expander  inserted  in  foot  before  shoe  is 
fitted,  and  keep  foot  soft.  I  do  not  recommend  cutting  the 
bars  and  sole  away  where  the  corn  is  located  and  leaving 
the  wall  standing  up  all  alone,  but  cut  the  whole  heel 
seat  of  corn  and  bar  down  flat,  away  from  the  bearing 
surface  of  shoe. 

XXXV.     TOE  CRACK  OR  SPLIT  FOOT. 

A  foot  with  a  toe  crack  should  be  kept  as  short  as 
possible  at  the  toe.  Apply  a  stiff  hoof  expander,  use  one 
or  two  rivets  or  clamps  as  high  up  and  as  near  the  coronet 
as  possible  after  cutting  the  horn  where  one  side  laps  over 
the  other  the  full  length  of  the  crack.  After  inserting  the 
hoof  expander  fit  a  bar  shoe  to  the  foot  with  a  clip  at  each 
side  of  the  toe,  and  before  nailing  shoe  to  foot  cut  the  bear- 
ing of  foot  away  from  the  shoe  across  the  toe.  If  the  foot 
is  not  contracted  any  I  would  recommend  a  clip  back  at 
each  heel.  Treat  the  same  as  is  prescribed  for  Quarter- 
crack,  after  cutting  away  half  inch  each  side  of  crack  at  the 
coronet.  If  foot  is  contracted  do  not  use  any  clips  back  at 
the  heels  and  keep  the  foot  soft. 

XXXVI.      QUARTERCRACK. 
A  quartercrack  is  a  split  or  crack  in  a  quarter  from  the 
coronet  down  towards  the  bottom  of  a  foot.     At  times  it  is 

-44- 


very  painful  and  prevents  the  use  of  the  horse.  In  most 
of  these  quartercracks  one  side  is  lapped  over  on  the  other 
one-quarter  or  three-eighths  of  an  inch,  and  from  the  con- 
tinual expansion  and  contraction  of  the  foot  while  the  horse 
is  in  action  the  lapped  parts  are  continually  working  against 
one  another  as  the  foot  expands  with  the  weight  of  horse 
on  it,  and  contracts  when  the  foot  is  lifted  up.  This  kind 
of  action  of  the  split  horn  at  the  coronet  is  what  prevents 
it  from  knitting.  The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  apply  a  few 
poultices  which  will  get  the  foot  soft.  If  the  foot  or  quar- 
ter is  contracted  apply  a  hoof  expander.  In  fixing  the  foot 
rasp  the  foot  as  low  as  possible  without  making  it  tender, 
at  both  heels  and  toes.  Do  not  cut  any  sole  or  bars  out  or 
cut  the  heels  open  with  the  knife,  have  the  side  of  foot  where 
the  crack  is  on  the  lowest  or  you  can  have  that  part  of  the 
shoe  quite  thin,  so  that  the  jar  or  concussion  will  be  on  all 
parts  of  foot,  except  the  quartercrack.  Use  a  bar  shoe 
with  plenty  of  frog  pressure,  a  plain  shoe  is  best.  If  you 
have  to  have  calks,  place  the  heel  calk  on  cracked  side 
ahead  of  crack  on  shoe  if  possible.  If  the  crack  is  close  to 
the  heel,  take  the  bearing  of  foot  away  from  the  shoe  by 
Cutting  the  heel  down.  Now  cut  the  horn  away  on  the  side 
that  is  lapped  over  the  other  the  full  length  of  the  quarter- 
crack,  cut  the  horn  away  one-quarter  of  an  inch  each  side 
of  the  crack  at  the  coronet,  if  it  bleeds  a  little  it  will  not 
hurt.  Now  a  blister  at  the  coronet  above  and  on  each  side 
of  the  crack  will  be  beneficial  to  start  the  growth  down 
solid,  if  it  should  crack  open  again  apply  a  stronger  one. 
After  the  crack  starts  to  grow  down  solid,  apply  a  little  of 
the  blistering  ointment  every  week  or  ten  days  but  do  not 
let  it  blister,  just  use  enough  to  keep  it  sweating,  it  will 
toughen  and  soften  the  horn  as  it  grows  down.  A  rivet  or 
clamp  drawing  the  edges  of  crack  together  as  near  the 
coronet  as  possible,  to  hold  it  together  and  strengthen  it  will 
be  very  beneficial.     A  salve  or  ointment  formally  made  by 

-45- 


the  late  Geo.  W.  St.  Clair,  and  now  by  Mike  Bowerman,  of 
Lexington,  Ky.,  is  the  best  thing  I  have  seen  to  help  knit 
and  grow  down  a  quartercrack.  A  little  North  Carolina  tar 
rubbed  into  coronet  over  crack  every  other  day  I  find  is 
excellent. 

XXXVII.     DISHED  OR  SCOOPED  TOE. 

This  is  caused  by  allowing  feet  to  grow  too  long,  espe- 
cially on  colts  and  horses  in  training,  creating  undue  pres- 
sure and  strain  on  the  front  of  foot  on  breaking  over  to 
leave  the  ground.  It  is  also  caused  by  being  foundered, 
where  the  soles  of  feet  have  dropped,  and  also  where  the 
fever  has  settled  in  the  feet,  and  the  soles  have  not  dropped, 
but  are  inclined  to  be  contracted,  dry  and  hard,  and  kept  at 
the  wrong  angle,  and  feet  not  kept  properly  fixed  and  shoes 
not  properly  fitted.  The  remedy  for  this  is  to  fix  the  foot 
at  the  proper  angle,  keep  the  frog  close  to  the  ground. 
Pare  the  sole  a  little  thin  around  the  toe  from  the  point  of 
frog  out  to  the  wall  at  the  toe,  and  after  the  shoe  has  been 
fitted,  cut  the  bearing  of  the  foot  at  the  toe  away  from  the 
shoe.  A  few  shoeings  of  this  kind  will  prevent  the  toe  from 
turning  up. 

XXXVIII.     CONCUSSION. 

Horses  with  high  knee  action  hit  the  ground  the  hard- 
est. The  more  weight  a  horse  carries  in  his  shoes  or  toe 
weights,  the  more  concussion  he  receives.  The  concussion 
on  the  hind  feet  and  legs  does  not  seem  to  pain  or  sting 
anything  like  what  he  has  to  endure  in  the  front  feet  and 
legs  when  striking  the  ground  fast  and  hard,  especially 
when  he  is  going  over  a  hard  piece  of  ground.  If  his  front 
feet  are  out  of  proportion,  high  heels  and  long  toes,  dry  and 
hard,  he  will  feel  the  concussion  severely  and  this  will  make 
many  horses  unsteady,  breaking  and  acting  bad.     A  horse 

-46- 


with  lofty  forward  action  should  be  trained  in  a  natural 
low  quarter  and  low  heeled  foot,  with  a  bar  shoe  as  light  as 
possible,  with  frog  pressure. 

The  most  dangerous  and  uncomfortable  kind  of  a  foot 
for  a  horse  that  hits  the  ground  hard  to  have  is  one  with  the 
heels  abnormally  high.  The  higher  the  heels  the  greater  the 
concussion.  The  lower  the  heels  the  less  the  concussion. 
The  more  weight  the  more  concussion.  The  less  weight  the 
less  concussion.  A  foot  that  is  kept  at  the  proper  angle,  as 
near  to  a  natural  foot  as  possible,  and  kept  soft,  will  pre- 
vent the  stinging  and  painful  sensation  that  is  caused  by 
concussion.  With  feet  kept  like  this  the  horse  will  not 
flinch  or  shorten  up  in  his  stride  when  he  strikes  hard  places 
in  the  track.  The  light  thin  heel  calks  that  are  used  on 
shoes  do  not  break  much  of  the  concussion  when  horses  are 
going  fast.  Why?  because  when  the  legs  are  extended  at 
speed  the  shoes  land  on  the  ground  back  on  the  heel,  with 
the  toe  of  the  foot  elevated  away  from  the  ground,  and 
with  some  horses  more  than  with  others.  They  do  not 
strike  the  ground  flat-footed  like  the  most  of  them  do  when 
going  slow.  Thin  hard  pads  are  very  good  under  light 
shoes,  but  thick  pads  that  will  allow  the  walls  of  a  horse's 
foot  at  heels  to  sink  or  cut  through  them  at  the  heels  are 
no  good.  They  will  create  a  hard  lump  at  the  seat  of  corns 
between  the  bar  and  wall  at  the  heels,  and  hold  dirt  that  is 
liable  to  create  unpleasant  feelings  to  a  sensitive  horse  that 
goes  in  middling  low  heels.  When  heels  of  the  front  feet 
are  allowed  to  become  too  high  on  horses  taking  fast  work 
or  racing,  a  very  severe  strain  is  thrown  on  the  ligament  or 
tendon  that  holds  the  navicular  bone  in  its  socket.  When 
the  leg  is  extended  at  speed  the  extra  high  heels  cause  the 
foot  to  land  too  far  ahead  of  the  leg  while  the  toe  is  elevated 
on  landing,  so  that  it  creates  an  extra  amount  of  work 
for  the  ligament  to  hold  it  in  its  proper  position  at  the 
time  of  impact  with  the  ground. 

-47- 


XXXIX.     FOUNDER,    CHRONIC    LAMINITIS    OR 
DROPPED  SOLE. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  shoe  this  kind  for  comfort  to 
the  animal,  and  for  an  earning  remuneration  for  the  owner. 
In  founder  or  chronic  laminitis,  where  the  sole  of  feet  are 
dropped,  caused  by  the  displacement  of  the  weight  bear- 
ing bones  of  the  foot,  fix  the  feet  by  lowering  the  quarters 
and  heels  so  as  to  get  as  much  frog  pressure  as  is  possible, 
without  making  the  foot  tender,  and  your  foot  is  ready 
for  the  shoe.  A  shoe  for  a  dropped  sole  foot  must  be  a 
bar  shoe,  thick  at  the  toe  and  thin  at  the  heels,  with  a  wide 
thin  bar  to  receive  the  frog  pressure.  To  make  a  shoe  to 
suit  this  kind  of  diseased  feet,  use  a  piece  of  iron  three- 
quarters  to  one  inch  square  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
disease  and  the  weight  of  the  horse,  and  in  making  the 
shoes  for  foot  founder  leave  all  the  thickness  of  the  shoe  at 
the  toe  possible,  and  thin  the  shoe  at  the  quarters  and  heels 
to  a  quarter  of  an  inch,  have  the  bar  wide  and  thin  so  as  to 
receive  all  the  frog  pressure  possible,  the  thicker  the  toe  of 
shoe  and  thinner  the  quarters  and  bar  at  heels  the  better. 
Concave  or  cup  the  shoe  out  so  as  not  to  get  any  sole  pres- 
sure. 

I  will  cite  one  case  of  this  kind,  the  very  worst  in  my 
experience.  A  horse  that  weighed  over  1400  pounds  that 
could  scarcely  stand  on  his  feet,  had  been  treated  by  dif- 
ferent veterinary  surgeons  and  shod  several  times  and  could 
not  keep  the  shoes  on  his  feet  and  he  was  so  sore  that  I 
got  wet  with  perspiration  getting  two  nails  in  one  shoe  and 
I  had  to  stand  him  in  a  very  soft  place  to  do  that.  This 
horse  would  lay  down  in  the  lot  most  all  the  time  and  eat 
the  grass  from  where  he  could  reach  it  and  then  move  to 
where  he  could  reach  more,  he  was  the  most  hopeless  sub- 
ject I  ever  came  across.  I  shod  him  according  to  the  in- 
struction herein  prescribed,  and  he  trotted  off  with  his  tail 
curled  over  his  back  like  a  colt.     He  was  put  to  work  the 

-48- 


next  morning  and  continued  at  work  until  sold  for  two 
hundred  dollars.  Elevating  the  heels  with  calks  creates 
pain  and  misery  to  the  animal. 

XL.     CROSSFIRIXG  PACERS. 

When  a  pacer  begins  to  crossfire  every  one  knows  he  is 
not  balanced.  There  are  different  causes  for  crossfiring: 
front  feet  not  properly  fixed  and  at  the  proper  angle,  not 
carrying  the  proper  amount  of  weight  in  front  will  help  to 
cause  it,  and  on  hind  feet  the  same.  Too  much  slipping  will 
help  to  create  it.  But  the  most  important  thing  that  causes 
crossfiring,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  is  because  the  hind  feet 
are  a  lot  higher  on  the  inside  than  they  are  on  the  outside, 
which  creates  a  leverage  to  leave  the  ground  from  when  at 
speed,  which  extra  height  or  length  of  foot  acts  as  a  lever- 
age to  control  the  line  of  action  of  the  leg  after  the  foot 
leaves  the  ground.  In  all  my  experience  with  crossfirers  I 
have  found  this  the  most  important  factor,  namely,  the  in- 
side of  the  offending  feet  to  be  the  highest.  So  the  fixing 
of  the  feet  is  the  most  important  part  of  the  contract.  If 
you  can  get  the  feet  properly  fixed  to  change  the  leverage, 
to  control  the  line  of  action,  there  will  be  no  more  cross- 
firing.  (This  same  rule  applies  to  a  trotter  that  is  unbal- 
anced if  the  insides  of  his  hind  feet  are  the  highest  and 
when  he  strikes  a  singlefoot  or  pace  he  is  very  likely  to 
crossfire).  The  pacer  that  begins  to  crossfire  needs  the 
insides  of  the  hind  feet  lowered,  a  little  longer  angle  to 
leave  the  ground  from,  with  the  height  or  extra  length  of 
foot  to  create  a  leverage  on  leaving  the  ground  to  be  at  the 
outside  toe.  A  foot  properly  fixed  as  herein  prescribed  and 
a  properly  made  and  fitted  shoe  will  stop  crossfiring.  I 
would  recommend  a  sideweight  shoe,  the  weight  to  be  ap- 
plied to  the  outside  of  feet,  the  inside  to  be  beveled  or 
rounded  from  center  of  toe  back  to  the  inside  quarter  of 
each  hind  shoe.     The  shoes  could  be  a  few  ounces  heavier 

-49- 


than  previous  shoes  for  best  results.  As  a  rule  pacers  go 
best  and  fastest  in  shorter  feet  than  the  trotters.  The 
easier  a  pacer  can  leave  the  ground  the  more  rapid  gaited 
he  will  be,  and  the  more  he  will  be  inclined  to  stick  to 
the  pace.  By  all  means  shoe  to  prevent  slipping  both  in 
front  and  behind.  A  proper  angle  for  the  front  feet  has 
to  be  found,  also  for  the  hind  feet,  so  that  the  speed  at 
both  ends  will  be  in  harmony,  if  one  end  is  faster  than 
the  other  there  will  be  friction. 

There  will  be  found  in  this  work  directions  as  to  how 
to  lengthen  or  shorten  the  stride,  to  increase  or  decrease 
knee  or  hock  action,  to  widen  hind  action,  also  the  best  way 
to  prevent  winging  in  and  paddling  out,  at  speed.  Also  how 
to  quicken  the  action  of  dwelling  gaited  ones.  As  to  the 
proper  amount  of  weight  that  the  horse  goes  the  fastest 
with  in  his  shoes,  the  trainer  should  know  better  than  any 
one  else,  but  all  trainers  are  not  the  best  judges  of  gait,  an 
expert  on  the  ground  taking  a  view  from  in  front,  from 
behind,  and  a  side  view,  has  a  big  advantage  over  the  driver. 
An  expert  trainer  and  race  driver  knows  when  his  pupil 
can  step  a  mile,  half  or  three-quarters  at  a  2:10  or  2:05  or- 
a  2  :00  gait  on  a  light  line,  that  his  horse  is  all  right,  if  there 
is  any  friction  he  can  see  it  or  feel  it  on  the  lines. 

XLL     NOTE  OF  IMPORTANCE. 

Now  right  here  is  the  most  important  part  of  a  little 
transaction  that  should  not  be  omitted  from  any  trainer's 
records.  The  condition  your  horse  has  worked  up  to  and 
how  he  has  been  cared  for,  his  weight,  whether  he  wears 
calks  or  not,  what  is  the  angle  of  his  feet  and  length  of 
toes  front  and  hind,  what  is  the  weight  of  his  front  shoes 
also  his  hind  shoes,  also  about  his  harness,  the  exact  length 
of  back  strap  and  check  rein,  and  what  hole  the  buckle  be- 
longs in  in  the  check  rein  should  be  carefully  noted.     If  you 

-50- 


keep  a  record  of  these  things  no  one  can  tell  you  what  your 
horse  needs,  for  you  will  know  it  yourself  far  better.  I  i"  a 
change  takes  place  and  it  is  not  physical  it  may  have  oc- 
curred in  the  shop  if  he  has  been  shod  recently,  and  as  you 
have  kept  a  record  of  his  feet  and  shoes  and  harness  you 
can  find  out  by  reference  to  it 

The  last  time  I  was  in  Lexington,  Ky.  I  was  working 
at  my  trade,  shoeing  horses,  when  I  was  approached  by  a 
gentleman  by  the  name  of  Saunders,  he  said  to  me  that  he 
was  told  by  some  of  his  friends  to  see  me  about  shoeing  a 
cross-firing  pacer  that  he  had  and  he  also  said  that  I  was 
recommended  to  him  very  highly.  I  told  him  I  could  tell 
him  what  I  could  do  for  the  horse  after  seeing  the  con- 
dition of  the  feet,  if  I  could  help  him  or  not,  so  he  had  the 
horse  led  around  to  my  tent  to  be  looked  at.  After  looking 
at  the  feet  and  shoeing,  I  told  him  I  could  help  that  horse 
wonderfully,  so  the  next  day  my  subject  was  led  around 
for  me  to  operate  on.  I  had  learned  that  this  horse  cross- 
fired  so  bad  they  could  hardly  keep  quarterboots  on  him, 
and  they  wrere  afraid  to  work  him  on  account  of  crossfiring. 
He  was  entered  to  start  at  the  meeting  but  was  a  little 
short  of  work.  His  feet  were  in  bad  shape  according  to  the 
calipers  and  foot  -adjuster  and  to  my  eye.  I  fixed  this 
horse's  feet  to  pace  without  cross-firing  and  truly,  accord- 
ing to  the  prescription  given  in  this  book  for  cross-firing. 
That  horse  responded  to  the  treatment  instantly  and  the 
horse  paced  fine  with  no  more  cross-firing.  He  was  worked 
a  couple  of  times  during  the  week  and  went  all  right,  and 
during  the  meeting  he  was  going  so  good  they  agreed  to 
start  him.  He  started  in  the  race  and  if  my  memory  serves 
me  right  he  finished  second  the  first  heat,  the  second  heat 
several  horses  finished  ahead  of  him,  I  do  not  remember 
how  many,  but  when  they  came  out  for  the  third  heat  the 
driver  of  this  horse  was  called  up  in  the  stand  to  watch  this 
horse  while  a  driver  by  the  name  of  Mike  Bowerman  piloted 

-  51- 


him  to  victory  in  three  straight  heats  and  he  took  a  record 
close  to  2:10.  I  believe  the  horse's  name  was  Sable  Gift, 
or  some  other  gift.  The  only  gift  the  horse  got  was  a 
record,  something  he  did  not  want,  neither  did  those  that 
were  buying  first,  second  and  third  choices. 

XLII.     KEEP  THE  FEET  LEVEL. 

The  front  foot  should  never  be  the  highest  on  the 
outside  of  a  trotter  or  pacer,  unless  the  horse  paddles  with 
one  or  both  front  legs.  A  foot  that  is  left  high  on  the  out- 
side and  low  on  the  inside  will  help  to  prevent  paddling  and 
will  increase  the  winging  in  to  the  knees.  A  foot  that  is 
kept  high  on  the  inside  and  low  on  the  outside  will  help  to 
prevent  winging  in  to  the  knees.  There  are  lots  of  paddlers 
who  do  not  begin  to  paddle  until  the  foot  has  left  the 
ground  quite  some  distance,  and  to  prove  this  I  have  seen 
the  shoes  worn  by  some  paddlers  and  the  most  of  the  weai 
on  the  shoes  of  the  paddling  leg  or  legs  was  at  the  outside 
toe  of  shoe.  A  paddler  that  leaves  the  ground  from  the 
inside  toe  of  shoe  can  be  made  to  carry  the  leg  straighter 
in  a  line  at  speed  easier  than  one  that  leaves  the  ground 
from  the  outside  toe. 

The  reason  why  a  front  foot  should  not  be  left  highest 
on  the  outside,  of  a  trotter  or  pacer,  unless  he  is  a  paddler, 
is  this;  supposing  the  front  legs  at  the  chest  or  where  the 
upper  arm  joint  is  connected  with  the  chest  is  ten,  twelve 
or  fifteen  inches  apart,  I  mean  the  distance  the  two  front 
legs  are  from  one  another  where  connected  with  the  body. 
<Now  when  this  horse  is  at  speed  and  can  go  fast  at  the  trot 
or  pace,  like  most  all  fast  horses  at  speed,  his  foot  prints 
will  be  straight  in  a  line  one  after  the  other  on  the  track. 
Now  if  their  upper  arms  are  ten  or  twelve  inches  apart, 
more  or  less,  and  at  speed  their  feet  land  nearly  on  a  line, 
the  front  legs  are  not  working  forward  and  backward  in  a 
straight  up  and  down  line  from  the  body,  so  this  being  the 

-52- 


case  just  try  to  imagine  just  how  those  two  front  feet  land 
on  the  ground  with  the  legs  wide  apart  at  the  upper  arms 
and  the  feet  landing  straight  in  a  line  or  nearly  so  at  speed. 
The  question  is,  should  the  outside  of  front  foot  be  lower 
than  the  inside,  if  so,  how  much,  to  distribute  and  equalize 
the  concussion  on  both  sides  of  a  front  foot  at  the  heels 
when  at  speed.  What  I  am  trying  to  explain  is,  if  you  have 
a  fast  trotter  or  pacer  and  he  does  not  paddle,  and  you  are 
working  to  develop  speed  intending  to  race,  and  if  the  out- 
side of  the  front  feet  are  the  highest  and  the  inside  of  the 
hind  feet  are  the  highest,  every  time  you  work  this  horse 
with  unbalanced  feet  you  are  guilty  of  one  of  the  greatest 
crimes  that  are  committed  by  trainers  and  horse-shoers. 
In  fixing  the  front  feet  on  all  fast  horses,  trotters  or 
pacers,  that  do  not  paddle,  first  rasp  the  outside  of  a  front 
foot  down  to  where  you  want  it,  toe  and  heel,  then  you  can 
rasp  the  inside  of  the  foot  down  to  where  it  will  suit  the 
action  of  the  leg  the  best.  The  reason  for  this  is  you  can 
always  lower  the  inside  of  a  front  foot  a  lot  lower  than  you 
can  the  outside  of  same  foot  and  when  you  rasp  the  inside 
of  a  front  foot  down  first,  nine  times  out  of  ten  you  will  not 
be  able  to  rasp  the  outside  of  the  same  foot  down  to  a  level 
with  the  inside.  Now  the  hind  foot  is  just  to  the  reverse. 
Always  rasp  to  lower  the  inside  of  a  hind  foot  down  first  to 
where  you  want  it  and  then  take  the  outside  down  to  a  level 
with  it.  If  you  do  not  fix  feet  by  this  rule,  the  sensitive 
portion  of  the  foot  will  often  prevent  you  from  lowering  it 
enough  to  level  up  matters  with  opposite  side,  and  the  sensi- 
tive parts  of  the  foot  that  will  prevent  you  from  doing  this 
will  be  the  outside  of  a  front  foot  and  the  inside  of  a  hind 
foot.  This  is  the  main  reason  why  so  many  floormen  in 
shops  all  over  the  country  cut  the  inside  of  front  feet  too 
low  for  the  outside,  and  leave  the  inside  of  the  hind  feet 
too  high  for  the  outside  of  same.  But  if  you  will  fix  feet 
by  this  rule  you  will  be  right  the  most  of  the  time. 

-53- 


XLIIL     PULLING  ON  ONE  LINE  AT  SPEED. 

I  was  approached  on  this  subject  and  had  it  explained 
to  me  that  a  certain  horse  going  the  right  way  of  the^  track 
at  speed  would  go  on  one  line  and  keep  going  into  the  fence 
or  hugging  the  pole,  and  would  make  two  or  three  breaks 
going  the  length  of  the  stretch  on  a  half-mile  track,  and 
could  not  be  kept  away  from  the  fence.  After  an  exami- 
nation of  the  teeth,  cheeks,  and  tongue,  and  bit,  and  finding 
these  to  be  all  O.  K.,  I  concluded  that  it  must  be  from 
uneven  extension  of  the  legs.  The  extension  and  propelling 
power  of  the  off  legs  was  greater  than  that  of  the  nigh 
ones.  A  three-ounce  toe  weight  on  the  feet  of  the  nigh 
legs  straightened  or  balanced  up  the  lost  action  of  the  nigh 
side  so  that  the  horse  would  speed  the  length  of  the  stretch 
in  any  position  on  the  track  without  pulling  on  one  line  and 
so  the  necessity  for  pulling  on  one  line  to  keep  the  horse 
straight  was  stopped. 

The  feet  on  this  animal  were  well  fixed  hind  and  front,  as 
to  length  of  toes  and  angle  of  feet,  the  hind  shoes  weighed 
alike  and  the  front  ones  also.  The  muscular  development 
of  the  extension  power  of  the  off  legs  was  stronger  than 
that  of  the  nigh  legs,  perhaps  also  the  propelling  power  of 
the  off  hind  leg.  This  is  the  reason  the  horse  was  pulling 
on  one  line.  The  off  legs  were  reaching  farther  than  the 
nigh  ones,  which  kept  forcing  the  horse  to  go  towards  the 
fence.  Unbalanced  feet  will  cause  this  as  well  as  undevel- 
oped muscles.  I  have  no  doubt  but  there  are  lots  of  horses 
going  on  one  line  and  hugging  the  pule  that  need  a  change 
in  the  angle  of  the  feet,  or  the  proper  weight  at  the  proper 
place  to  balance  up  matters.  If  the  strides  of  this  horse 
had  been  measured  there  would  have  been  found  a  big  dif- 
ference between  the  off  and  nigh  strides,  so  you  see  it  is 
not  always  the  teeth,  cheeks,  or  bit  that  cause  this  trouble. 
The  horse  in  question  later  stepped  miles  in  2:09. 

-54- 


XUV.    A  GOOD  JUDGE  OF  GAIT. 

In  all  my  experience  with  horsemen  and  horses  I  be- 
lieve William  Russell  Allen's  judgment  about  gait  and  pros- 
pective or  ultimate  speed  is  superior  to  that  of  any  one  I 
have  ever  come  in  contact  with.  He  seems  to  have  the 
faculty  of  knowing  at  a  glance  the  frictionless  gait  from  a 
fairly  good  gaited  one.  To  prove  this  I  will  cite  a  few 
instances.  On  one  occasion  he  was  away  on  a  visit  and  on 
his  return  he  said  to  me  that  he  saw  Uhlan  1 :58  as  a 
two-year-old  or  a  three-year-old,  I  do  not  remember  exactly, 
but  it  was  before  he  came  into  prominence,  and  Mr.  Allen 
told  me  he  was  the  best  gaited  colt  he  ever  saw.  This  colt 
must  have  been  just  as  he  said,  for  it  could  not  have  been 
over  a  year,  or  two  at  the  outside,  when  this  same  colt 
trotted  to  a  world's  record,  and  it  did  not  surprise  me  much 
after  remembering  what  Mr.  Allen  told  me  about  his  gait. 
The  same  thing  happened  again  when  he  saw  Peter  Volo 
2:02,  early  in  his  two-year-old  form.  Also  the  full  sister 
to  Peter  Volo,  Volga,  Mr.  Allen  told  me  she  was  gaited 
to  win  all  her  engagements. 

Here  at  Allen  Farm  he  picked  a  yearling  out  of  about 
thirty  early  in  the  season,  that  was  out  of  a  non-producing 
dam,  to  beat  all  the  yearlings  an  eighth  of  a  mile  at  the  trot 
that  season  at  the  farm  on  a  small  bet.  It  was  big  odds 
and  was  taken  very  quickly  by  one  of  the  employees,  who 
was  wishing  he  could  get  more  of  that  kind  of  bets.  When 
the  brush  work  of  the  season  was  over  the  field  ticket  was 
never  presented  to  the  pool  seller  to  be  cashed.  Mr.  Allen's 
first  choice  out  of  a  large  field  won  by  a  quarter  of  a  second 
and  we  had  a  lot  of  fast  ones,  but  any  how .  he  had  the 
laugh  on  me  at  the  finish. 

XLV.     BAR  SHOES. 
If  you  have  a  horse  with  toe  cracks,  quarter  cracks  or 
one  that  is  sore  or  lame  from  corns,  a  bar  shoe  is  the  best 

-55- 


kind  of  a  shoe.  If  you  have  a  horse  with  a  dropped  sole, 
or  founder  footed  horse  the  bar  shoe  is  the  best  kind  for 
such  feet.  It  is  also  a  good  shoe  to  be  used  on  feet  where 
expanders  are  used  as  the  bar  in  the  shoe  will  protect  the 
expander  at  times  when  an  open  shoe  will  not,  and  frog 
pressure  on  the  bar  will  also  help  to  get  expansion.  The 
most  important  thing  to  guard  against  is,  do  not  drive  any 
nails  back  of  the  quarters  because  that  will  prevent  ex- 
pansion. Draft  horses  with  wide  low  heels  or  thin  soles 
require  bar  shoes  for  the  hard  roads,  as  they  stay  sound 
longer  wearing  bar  shoes  than  in  open  shoes.  For  racing 
purposes  the  bar  shoe  is  very  important  for  the  front  feet, 
and  occasionally  for  the  hind  feet,  for  both  trotter  and 
pacer.  Any  horse  racing  or  in  training  that  carries  a  light, 
or  very  light  front  shoe  should  by  all  means  wear  a  bar 
shoe,  it  is  a  great  support  to  the  foot  when  hitting  the 
ground  hard  and  fast,  as  the  natural  expansion  and  con- 
traction is  at  its  limit  while  going  at  a  fast  rate  of  speed. 

For  a  heel-weight  shoe  you  can  get  more  weight  in  the 
heels  of  a  bar  shoe  than  in  an  open  shoe,  which  heel  weight 
the  action  of  some  horses  requires  more  so  than  they  do 
toe  weight.  A  trotter  or  pacer  that  spreads  his  hind  shoes 
or  front  shoes,  should  by  all  means  wear  bar  shoes.  The 
last  time  I  shod  John  R.  Gentry  for  Mr.  James  Ramey,  I 
shod  him  with  bar  shoes  all  around  with  heel  and  toe 
calks  for  that  memorable  race  at  Detroit  in  the  2:13  or 
2:14  class,  he  won  his  race  easily  breaking  the  track  record, 
under  strong  restraint.  He  could  have  paced  a  very  fast 
mile  or  two  that  day  if  he  had  been  asked  to  do  it,  he  was 
sold  after  this  performance.. 

I  have  never  seen  many  yearlings  or  two-year-olds  that 
needed  a  bar  shoe  while  in  training.  It  is  a  very  bad  shoe 
for  either  yearling  or  two-year-old  unless  a  hoof  expander 
is  kept  in  the  foot  to  prevent  contraction  and  help  expan- 
sion, for  the  feet  will  surely  get  contracted  without  some- 

-56- 


thing  to  prevent  it,  after  the  heels  grow  high  enough  to 
lose  their  frog  pressure.  I  used  a  pair  of  heavy  heel-weight 
bar  shoes,  about  ten  or  eleven  ounce,  on  one  yearling's  hind 
feet  to  stop  forging  and  scalping  while  he  was  being  jogged 
every  day.  The  shoes  he  was  brushed  or  speeded  in  for 
about  ten  days  did  not  suit  him  for  jogging.  This  yearling 
trotted  eighths  in  17  J4  seconds,  a  2:18  gait.     I  tried  more 


weight  in  front  but  it  did  no  good. 


XLVI.     SLIPPING  OR  SLIDING  TOO  MUCH. 

Slipping  will  unbalance  a  horse  when  trying  to  get  on 
his  stride  at  speed ;  slipping  too  much  on  landing  or  on 
leaving  the  ground  creates  lost  action  that  cannot  be  over- 
come by  muscular  development.  I  will  cite  a  couple  of 
cases  here  to  prove  this.  A  horse  that  trotted  in  his  work 
miles  in  2 :27  over  a  half-mile  track,  when  shipped  to  Rigley, 
Portland,  Me.,  could  not  trot  a  mile  there  in  2:45  without 
being  very  unsteady,  and  this  over  a  mile  track.  I  exam- 
ined his  foot  prints  and  saw  he  was  slipping  too  much.  I 
calked  his  shoes  with  toe  and  heel  calks,  never  changed  his 
feet,  and  this  horse  trotted  miles  in  2:25  without  a  break. 

A  mare  that  was  trotting  miles  in  her  work  over  this 
same  half-mile  track  in  2:25  easily,  quarters  in  33  or  33^ 
seconds,  was  shipped  to  Portland,  Me.,  to  a  mile  track  and 
could  not  trot  a  mile  there  in  2 :40  without  mixing  and  act- 
ing very  unsteady.  On  examining  her  foot  prints  I  found 
she  was  slipping  too  much.  I  was  sure  her  feet  were 
fixed  properly.  As  she  became  very  unsteady  and  inclined 
to  mix,  I  added  two  ounces  more  to  her  front  shoes  and 
gave  her  a  heel  and  toe  calk  on  hind  and  front  shoes  and 
she  became  very  steady  the  next  workout,  and  the  driver 
told  me  she  could  trot  a  mile  in  2:16  or  better. 

After  the  drivers  of  those  two  horses  found  they  would 
get  all  unbalanced  trying  to  get  on  their  stride,  they  did  not 

-57- 


go  to  work  with  the  lines  and  whip  endeavoring  to  balance 
up  matters,  and  cruelly  abuse  the  dumb  animals  for  what 
they  were  not  responsible,  but  asked  me  to  take  a  look  at 
them.  This  thing  of  balancing  faulty  action  with  the  lines 
and  whip  is  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  he  who  thinks  it  can 
be  done  has  stopped,  he  may  be  one  of  the  know-alls  and 
if  so  is  past  redemption  and  will  have  to  be  regenerated  to 
be  successful  at  the  profession. 

XLVII.     SIDEWEIGHT    SHOES. 

Sideweight  shoes  are  used  with  good  results  on  horses 
that  wing  in  to  their  knees  or  knee  hitters.  Apply  the 
weighty  side  of  shoe  on  the  inside  of  foot,  fix  the  outside  of 
the  foot  from  the  center  of  toe  to  the  outside  heel  the 
lowest,  it  will  be  good  in  some  cases  to  have  the  outside 
web  of  shoe  only  one-half  as  thick  as  that  of  the  inside, 
the  thinner  the  outside  the  better  for  the  winging  in.  For 
paddling  out  the  sideweight  shoe  is  used  with  the  weight 
on  the  outside  of  the  foot,  be  sure  and  fix  the  foot  by 
lowering  the  inside  of  foot  from  center  of  toe  back  to  the 
inside  heel,  have  the  inside  of  foot  lower  than  the  outside 
for  a  paddler,  and  have  the  outside  of  foot  lower  than  the 
inside  for  a  front  shin,  knee  and  arm  hitter.  A  hind  foot 
has  to  be  fixed  the  lowest  on  the  inside  for  speedy-cutting, 
shin  and  hock  hitting.  A  sideweight  shoe  is  used  a  lot  for 
speedy-cutting,  shin  and  hock  hitting,  but  if  the  feet  can 
be  proprely  leveled  low  enough  on  the  insides,  many  horses 
will  go  clean,  or  good  gaited  without  the  sideweight  shoe, 
as  it  is  the  extra  high  inside  of  hind  feet  that  causes  the 
closing  up  of  the  hind  action  that  makes  all  the  trouble. 

In  many  cases  to  help  matters  as  to  speedy-cutting, 
shin  and  hock  hitting  the  front  action  has  to  be  examined. 
The  horse  may  have  too  much  or  not  enough  front  action 
to  work  in  harmony  with  the  hind  action.     If  he  is  going 

-58- 


too  high  or  lofty  I  would  reduce  the  lost  lofty  action  and 
increase  the  extension.  If  he  is  going  too  low  I  would 
increase  his  front  action  by  shortening  his  toes  and  adding 
several  ounces  more  weight,  sometimes  it  will  require  from 
four  to  six  ounces  more  weight.  To  reduce  the  high  or 
lofty  front  action  and  create  more  extension  lower  the 
quarters  and  heels  of  front  feet,  shoe  with  an  extra  light 
bar  shoe  and  have  the  foot  at  an  angle  of  from  48  to  50 
degrees.  In  making  this  change  you  will  get  immediate 
results,  and  if  necessary  you  can  also  experiment  with  a 
toe  weight  to  balance  up  matters  more  satisfactorily. 

XLVIII.  TOE  WEIGHT  SHOES. 
A  toeweight  shoe  is  used  with  good  results  on  front 
feet  to  increase  the  fold  of  the  knee,  more  height  and 
reach.  This  shoe  can  be  used  with  a  square,  round,  beveled 
or  sharp  toe,  or  with  a  grab  toe  calk  as  the  case  calls  for. 
If  your  horse  is  inclined  to  mix  and  needs  weight  to  go 
good  gaited,  the  sharp  toe  or  one  with  a  grab  on  it  is  best. 
To  shorten  the  stride,  shorten  the  toes  of  feet  and  square 
or  bevel  the  toes  of  the  shoe  but  do  not  lower  the  heel  any. 
By  increasing  the  weight  of  this  shoe  and  raising  the  heels 
you  can  increase  the  height  of  the  front  action  to  your 
liking.  To  lengthen  the  stride  in  using  this  shoe,  lower 
quarters  and  heels  of  the  front  feet  to  an  angle  of  48  to  50 
degrees  and  use  the  plain  toeweight  shoe  or  one  with  a 
grab  on  it.  This  toeweight  shoe  is  the  best  to  use  on  a 
trotter  that  is  hitching,  hopping  or  running  behind,  and 
when  carrying  one  hind  leg  between  the  front  ones.  Bevel 
this  shoe  from  a  little  to  the  outside  center  of  toe  around 
the  inside  to  the  quarter  or  near  the  heel  with  a  small  heel 
calk.  This  shoe  must  be  from  one  to  two  ounces  more  than 
twice  the  weight  of  the  shoe  carried  on  the  perfect  gaited 
leg.  If  the  good  gaited  leg  is  carrying  a  six-ounce  shoe 
this  faulty  gaited  leg  or  foot  will  have  to  carry  13  ounces, 

-59- 


not  less,  to  change  the  line  of  action,  14  ounces  will  be 
better  than  12  ounces,  but  the  hind  foot  will  have  to  be 
the  lowest  on  the  inside,  if  anything,  as  it  was  a  high 
inside  of  foot  that  first  started  the  trouble.  A  horse  that  is 
hitching  should  not  be  speeded  until  the  action  or  gait  of 
the  faulty  leg  has  been  balanced,  for  it  is  so  easily  done. 
A  driver  who  will  try  and  drive  the  hitching  out  of  a  horse 
with  the  lines  and  whip  is  just  as  much  unbalanced  as  is 
the  dumb  animal. 

XLIX.     POCKET    WEIGHTS. 

A  pocket  weight  can  be  used  jogging  a  knee  knocker  or 
paddler  in  the  fall,  winter  and  spring,  to  develop  the  muscle 
required  and  to  prevent  those  faulty  lines  of  action,  and  you 
can  use  from  five  to  ten  ounces,  as  the  case  may  need  to  the 
foot  of  the  faulty  gaited  leg.  But  be  sure  and  shoe  the 
foot  or  feet  very  light,  and  prepare  the  feet  according  to 
the  chapter  in  this  book  on  winging  in  or  paddling  out.  If 
the  feet  are  not  properly  prepared  to  help  the  pocket  weight 
to  control  the  faulty  line  of  action,  one  will  be  working 
against  the  other,  and  the  results  will  be  unsatisfactory, 
but  if  properly  performed  as  to  foot  fixing  and  weighting, 
and  a  little  time  to  bring  about  the  change  results  will  be 
good.  The  hole  in  foot  to  receive  the  spur  of  the  pocket 
weight  should  be  about  half  way  between  toe  and  heel  to 
get  best  results.  The  pocket  weight  should  be  used  on 
inside  of  foot  for  winging  in  and  on  outside  of  foot  for  a 
paddler. 

L.    ANKLE  HITTING  OR  INTERFERING. 

There  are  so  many  different  causes  for  this  that  there 
is  no  fixed  rule  in  shoeing  that  will  apply  to  all  cases.  I 
have  seen  horses  cutting  their  hind  ankles  from  the  fol- 
lowing causes :  the  foot  or  feet  too  high  on  the  inside,  the 

-60- 


foot  or  feet  too  high  on  the  outside,  the  foot  or  feet  too  long 
at  the  toe,  and  too  low  at  the  heels,  all  out  of  proportion 
as  to  the  correct  angle.  Horses  that  are  weak,  low  in  flesh, 
and  worked  beyond  their  physical  capacity,  when  not  able 
to  perform  their  daily  task  without  getting  leg  weary,  con- 
formation of  some  horses  makes  them  brush,  box,  or  cut 
their  hind  ankles. 

The  conformation  that  makes  a  very  bad  ankle  hitter  is 
one  where  the  horse  stands  wedge  shaped  from  his  hips 
down  to  where  his  feet  rest  on  the  ground.  This  kind  of  a 
horse  will  stand  with  his  hind  feet  close  together  or  against 
one  another  when  at  rest,  horses  of  this  conformation  and 
without  much  hock  action  are  the  very  worst  in  this  respect. 
The  same  treatment  will  not  apply  to  all  cases  of  ankle 
hitting.  Unbalanced  feet  are  the  main  cause  for  all  ankle 
hitting,  when  not  caused  by  some  deformity.  A  farrier 
with  a  good  eye  and  good  judgment,  on  examination  of  the 
hind  feet,  will  find  out  the  main  cause  of  the  trouble.  Keep 
the  toes  of  all  ankle  hitters  as  short  as  possible  for  the 
shorter  the  leverage  to  break  over  and  leave  the  ground 
from,  the  straighter  the  line  of  action  of  the  leg  will  be ;  a 
middling  high  heel,  and  a  very  short  toe  is  the  best.  If  the 
foot  or  feet  are  too  high  on  the  inside,  lower  the  insides  to 
a  level  with  the  outside,  and  shoe  with  a  heel  calk,  hot  rasp 
the  inside  of  shoes  to  a  bevel.  If  you  find  the  foot  or  feet 
too  high  on  the  outside  lower  the  outside  to  a  level  with 
the  inside,  if  either  foot  is  winged  out,  wider  on  one  side 
of  the  leg  than  the  other,  edge  the  foot  up  until  you  have 
an  equal  portion  of  the  foot  on  both  sides  of  the  frog 
measuring  from  the  center  of  the  frog.  This  rule  applies  to 
all  feet  in  foot  fixing.     Shoe  the  same  as  above  stated. 

I  have  seen  horses  cutting  their  ankles  very  bad  on 
account  of  their  heels  being  too  low,  and  their  toes  too  long. 
I  have  stopped  this  kind  of  ankle  cutting  by  raising  their 
heels   with  a   side   heelcalk   seven-eighths   of  an   inch   high 

-61- 


and  no  toe  calk.  An  ankle  cutter,  on  account  of  the  inside 
of  feet  being  too  low,  and  where  I  could  not  cut  the  outside 
of  foot  low  enough  to  compare  with  the  inside,  I  have  got 
good  results  by  welding  a  calk  along  the  inside  of  the  hind 
shoe  or  shoes  between  the  first  and  third  inside  nails  to 
make  up  the  deficiency.  A  horse  that  boxes  his  ankles 
jogging  sluggishly  will  go  good  in  short  toes,  with  a  square 
toe  shoe  and  heel  calks. 

A  horse  that  cuts  his  ankles  should  not  be  checked  too 
high  but  should  go  in  a  natural  manner  without  being  made 
to  carry  his  head  too  high.  The  hold-back  straps  should 
never  be  too  tight  for  this  hugs  their  quarters  together  and 
that  creates  interfering.  A  horse  that  is  a  hard  puller  on 
the  lines,  when  hitched  to  a  light  vehicle  has  a  tendency  to 
box  his  ankles  on  account  of  the  hold-back  straps  hugging 
his  quarters  together. 


62- 


IN  CONCLUSION. 

If  you  have  carefully  read  thus  far  you  may  feel 
conscious  that  I  have  repeated  and  reiterated  again  and 
again  certain  things  in  relation  to  "fixing  feet".  If  I  have 
done  this  more  than  to  you  seems  necessary,  it  is  because 
of  the  importance  of  the  things  repeated,  and  because  of  my 
desire  to  impress  my  readers  with  their  importance. 

If  you  find  herein  anything  that  you  are  specially  inter- 
ested in,  that  to  you  may  seem  cloudy  or  involved,  and  not 
clear,  I  will  be  pleased  to  clarify  and  elucidate  any  point 
by  correspondence. 

My  life  study  and  work  has  been  in  connection  with 
the  thing  about  which  I  have  herein  written.  I  have  been 
always,  and  am  now,  intensely  and  vitally  interested  in  this 
subject,  and  my  reason  for  putting  my  ideas  into  print  is 
because  of  my  extreme  interest  in  the  trotting  and  pacing 
race  horse,  and  also  because  of  a  hope  that  by  widening, 
and  extending  to  others,  the  horizon  of  my  experiences,  by 
the  means  of  a  printed  book,  I  may  help  many  a  sore  horse, 
as  well  as  many  a  discouraged  trainer  and  driver  and  owner. 

WILLIAM  J.  MOORE, 
Pittsfield, 

Berkshire  County, 
Tune    1916.  Massachusetts. 


-63- 


Webster  Family  Library  of  Veterinary  Medicine 
Cummings  School  of  Veterinary  Medicine  at 
Tufts  University 
200  Westboro  Road 

JUnrth  firaftnn   ft/IAMP/lfi 


J 


